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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police division are investigating a claim 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 way of a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was hurt.

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

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we're everywhere in the US, and we'll concern no further warnings,” the assertion said, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme courtroom draft ruling that will overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade resolution and end virtually half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told the Guardian that its brokers have been conscious of the group’s claims of responsibility, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to provide more particulars.

The Madison police department stated it was “conscious of a group claiming accountability for the arson at Wisconsin Household Motion and are working with our federal companions to determine the veracity of that declare”.

It urged anyone with relevant information to make contact, saying: “We take all info and suggestions related to this case significantly and are working to vet each one.”

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers announced 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, stated no suspects had thus far been identified. Authorities had been expected to give an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We help the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by means of pure dying. This consists of opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – via abortion and different means,” it says.

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

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

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

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

An attack on an anti-abortion workplace is a relative rarity in contrast 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 had been amongst greater than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the crucial heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot useless in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS magazine 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 said, had just one abortion supplier, principally small, unbiased operators who had been thought of most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming rate,” the article stated. “Impartial providers are the most vulnerable to anti-abortion attacks and violence directed at their employees.”