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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police department are investigating a claim by a pro-choice group that it was behind a weekend arson attack on an anti-abortion office in Wisconsin.

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Motion in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was harm.

In an announcement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to confirm the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge stated it launched the attack because of the organization’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're all over the US, and we are going to problem no additional warnings,” the statement mentioned, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

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

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) instructed the Guardian that its agents have been aware of the group’s claims of duty, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to give more particulars.

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

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

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers introduced a joint investigation into what it known 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, said no suspects had so far been recognized. Authorities were anticipated to give an additional update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by pure loss of life. This contains opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins 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 need to see a a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from local legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers known as the attack “a horrible incident”.

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

An assault 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 services.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks had been among greater than 300 acts of maximum violence recorded by the Rand Corporation 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 number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the constant threat of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS said, had only one abortion supplier, mostly small, independent operators who had been thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article mentioned. “Independent suppliers are the most vulnerable to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their employees.”