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

Federal agents 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 Action in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown via a window, beginning a small fireplace, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was damage.

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

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

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket draft ruling that may 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) informed the Guardian that its agents had been aware of the group’s claims of responsibility, however cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to provide extra particulars.

The Madison police department mentioned it was “aware of a bunch claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Family Action and are working with our federal partners to find out the veracity of that declare”.

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

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

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, stated no suspects had to this point been recognized. Authorities have been expected to provide a further replace on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We support the sanctity of human life from the second of conception via pure demise. This includes opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – through 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 convention on Monday, Evers called the assault “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 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 among more than 300 acts of utmost violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the vital 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 due to the fixed threat of violence against personnel. Six states, MS said, had only one abortion supplier, principally small, independent operators who were thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming fee,” the article said. “Unbiased providers are essentially the most vulnerable to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their employees.”