Professional-choice group claims arson assault on Wisconsin anti-abortion office | Wisconsin

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

The headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by means of a window, beginning a small fire, 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 verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge said it launched the attack due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that comparable institutions throughout the US disband or face “more and more extreme ways”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, but we're all over the US, and we will concern no additional warnings,” the statement said, citing the violence of anti-choice groups who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack got here days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade resolution and end almost 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 had been aware of the group’s claims of duty, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to give extra details.

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

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

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents 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, mentioned no suspects had up to now been identified. Authorities have been anticipated to present a further update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values assertion on its web site, Wisconsin Family 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 moment of conception by means of natural loss of life. This contains opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by 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 need to see a much stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from local regulation 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: “Because the state of Wisconsin, we don’t settle for that sort of violence right here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity in contrast with assaults 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks had been among greater than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the most heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, was shot dead 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 fixed menace of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion provider, principally small, independent operators who have been thought of most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article mentioned. “Unbiased providers are the most susceptible to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their workers.”