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

Federal brokers and detectives from the Madison police division 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 in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown through a window, starting a small fire, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was harm.

In a statement reported on Tuesday by the Lincoln Journal Star, which stated it was unable to verify the group’s authenticity, Jane’s Revenge mentioned it launched the attack due to the group’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related establishments throughout the US disband or face “increasingly extreme tactics”.

“Wisconsin is the primary flashpoint, but we're everywhere in the US, and we will problem no further warnings,” the assertion stated, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison assault came days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that might overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and finish nearly half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) instructed the Guardian that its agents were conscious of the group’s claims of duty, however cited the continuing investigation for being unable to give extra details.

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

It urged anyone with related info to make contact, saying: “We take all data and ideas associated to this case critically and are working to vet every one.”

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF agents introduced a joint investigation into what it called an “abortion extremism case involving an arson and graffiti assault of a pro-life advocacy workplace in Madison”.

The Madison police chief, Shon Barnes, said no suspects had thus far been identified. Authorities were anticipated to give a further replace on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception by pure loss of life. This consists of opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts at conception – by abortion and different 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 local law enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press conference on Monday, Evers referred to as the attack “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 workplace is a relative rarity compared 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 amenities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults have 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 due to the fixed threat of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS stated, had only one abortion supplier, largely small, impartial operators who were considered most at risk.

“Abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming fee,” the article mentioned. “Independent suppliers are the most susceptible to anti-abortion assaults and violence directed at their staff.”