Professional-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion workplace | 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 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, starting a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No one was hurt.

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

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we are all over the US, and we are going to concern no additional warnings,” the assertion said, 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 courtroom draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade determination 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) advised the Guardian that its agents were conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, however cited the continued investigation for being unable to offer more particulars.

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

It urged anyone with related data to make contact, saying: “We take all information 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 agents announced a joint investigation into what it called 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 so far been recognized. Authorities have been expected to provide an extra update on Tuesday afternoon.

In a values statement on its web site, Wisconsin Household Action (WFA) describes itself as a Judeo-Christian group devoted to “strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life and liberty.

“We help the sanctity of human life from the second of conception by means of natural dying. This contains opposing legislation that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – through 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 activity from our Governor [and] from local law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers referred to as the assault “a horrible incident”.

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

An assault on an anti-abortion office is a relative rarity in contrast 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks had been amongst more than 300 acts of utmost violence recorded by the Rand Corporation between 1973 and 2003, and in one of the vital heinous incidents, in 2009, Dr George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, 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 threat of violence towards personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion supplier, principally small, unbiased operators who had been thought of most in danger.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming charge,” the article said. “Impartial suppliers are probably the most weak to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”