Pro-choice group claims arson assault 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 Household Motion in Madison was attacked in the early hours of Sunday, with a molotov cocktail thrown by means of a window, beginning a small hearth, and graffiti spray-painted on an exterior wall. No person was hurt.

In a press release 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 assault due to the organization’s anti-abortion stance, and demanded that related establishments throughout the US disband or face “increasingly excessive ways”.

“Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, however we are all around the US, and we will issue no further warnings,” the statement said, citing the violence of anti-choice teams who “bomb [abortion] clinics and assassinate medical doctors with impunity” as justification.

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court docket 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) told the Guardian that its brokers have been conscious of the group’s claims of accountability, but cited the continued investigation for being unable to present more details.

The Madison police division stated it was “conscious of a bunch claiming duty for the arson at Wisconsin Household Action and are working with our federal partners to determine the veracity of that claim”.

It urged anyone with relevant data to make contact, saying: “We take all information and ideas associated to this case seriously and are working to vet each and every one.”

At a press convention on Monday afternoon, the Madison PD and ATF brokers announced 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 so far been recognized. Authorities had been anticipated to offer a further update on Tuesday afternoon.

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

“We assist the sanctity of human life from the second of conception via natural death. This consists of opposing laws that promotes the destruction of human life – which starts 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 activity from our Governor [and] from native legislation enforcement,” he wrote.

At a press convention on Monday, Evers known 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 sort of violence here.”

An assault on an anti-abortion workplace 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 facilities.

Arson, bombings, murders and acid assaults were among greater than 300 acts of utmost 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 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 menace of violence in opposition to personnel. Six states, MS mentioned, had only one abortion provider, mostly small, independent operators who have been thought of most at risk.

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