Professional-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | 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 Action in Madison was attacked within the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by way of a window, beginning a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. Nobody was harm.

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 said it launched the attack due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that similar establishments across the US disband or face “increasingly extreme tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we're all around the US, and we'll problem no additional warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate docs with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade choice and end nearly 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 were aware of the group’s claims of accountability, but cited the ongoing investigation for being unable to provide more particulars.

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

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

At a press conference 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 attack of a pro-life advocacy workplace in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, stated no suspects had to this point been recognized. Authorities have been anticipated to offer an additional replace on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its website, Wisconsin Household 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 second of conception by way of natural death. This contains opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which begins at conception – via 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 a lot stronger message of condemnation of this exercise from our Governor [and] from native law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference 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 accept that kind of violence here.”

An attack on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity compared with assaults 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 assaults had been among more than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Company between 1973 and 2003, and in some of the heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion supplier, was shot dead in a church in Wichita.

In March, MS journal reported that the variety of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the constant risk of violence against personnel. Six states, MS said, had just one abortion provider, principally small, independent operators who have been thought of most at risk.

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