Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | Wisconsin

Federal agents and detectives from the Madison police division are investigating a declare by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson assault on an anti-abortion office in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Household Motion in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was hurt.

In an announcement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the attack because of the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related institutions throughout the US disband or face “more and more excessive ways”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are everywhere in the US, and we are going to situation no additional warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that may overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade determination and finish virtually half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) advised the Guardian that its agents have been conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to provide extra particulars.

The Madison police department stated it was “aware of a bunch claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal companions to find out the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anybody with relevant information to make contact, saying: “We take all information and ideas related to this case significantly and are working to vet every one.”

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced a joint investigation into what it called an “abortion extremism case involving an arson and graffiti attack of a pro-life advocacy workplace in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, mentioned no suspects had thus far been identified. Authorities were anticipated to offer an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its website, Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group dedicated to “strengthening, preserving, and selling marriage, household, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by natural demise. This contains opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – through abortion and other means,” it says.

Jack Hoogendyk, the WFA board chairman, attacked the response to the attack in a tweet posted on Tuesday morning, singling out Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and Madison PD detectives.

“We have to see a a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from local law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention on Monday, Evers called the assault “a horrible incident”.

Calling for a full investigation and arrests, he added: “As the state of Wisconsin, we don’t accept that type of violence right here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity compared with attacks on abortion clinics and suppliers. In 2019, the Guardian reported on an “alarming escalation” in picketing, vandalism and trespassing by anti-abortion activists at medical facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks have been among greater than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in probably the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot useless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the fixed menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion supplier, largely small, independent operators who were thought of most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article said. “Unbiased suppliers are probably the most weak to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”