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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police division are investigating a declare by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson attack 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 means of a window, starting a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was damage.

In a press release reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which said it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the assault due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related establishments throughout the US disband or face “more and more excessive ways”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we're all over the US, and we are going to problem no additional warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault got here days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and finish almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) informed the Guardian that its brokers had been aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide more details.

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

It urged anyone with related information to make contact, saying: “We take all info and tips associated to this case critically and are working to vet every one.”

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers announced a joint investigation into what it referred to as an “abortion extremism case involving an arson and graffiti assault of a pro-life advocacy office in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, stated no suspects had thus far been recognized. Authorities had been anticipated to present an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its web site, Wisconsin Family Motion (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group devoted to “strengthening, preserving, and selling marriage, family, life and liberty.

“We support the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by means of pure demise. This consists of opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by way of abortion and different 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 regulation enforcement,” he wrote.

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

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

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

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were amongst greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot dead in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS magazine reported that the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly due to the constant menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had just one abortion supplier, largely small, unbiased operators who had been thought-about most in danger.

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