Wisconsin anti-abortion group hit by arson, authorities say

The headquarters of an anti-abortion group in Madison, Wis., was set on fire Sunday morning in an act of vandalism that included an attempt to use a Molotov cocktail and graffiti that read “If abortions are done.” If you’re not safe then you’re not a “nor,” according to police.

No one from the group, Wisconsin Family Action, was in the building at the time, and no injuries have been reported. Although the cocktail Molotov tossed through the window did not catch fire, vandals or vandals started another fire nearby, authorities said. The fire destroyed part of the wall.

The Madison Police Department did not say whether it had made any arrests or if more than one person was involved.

“We have notified our federal partners of this incident and are working with them and the Madison Fire Department as we investigate this arson,” the department said in a statement.

The attack happened almost a week after Leaked draft Supreme Court ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade . case, the landmark decision establishing the constitutional right to abortion. Wisconsin has a abortion law predated Roe by more than a century, but Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, has said he would block its implementation. Wisconsin Family Action is a nonprofit political advocacy group that promotes conservative policies on a number of issues, including abortion, in Wisconsin state government.

“We do nothing to guarantee this. Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, said. “If there’s someone in the office, at least they’re going to get hurt.”

The Madison Fire Department first received the call about the fire around 6 a.m. on Sunday. Firefighters and police arrived shortly after and quickly brought the blaze under control. Ms. Appling said she heard about the attack the next morning while preparing for a Mother’s Day brunch at her church in Watertown, Wis.

“I got a call from the building management here saying there had been a break-in and a fire had started,” Ms. Appling said. She then accompanied a team member to the building, where they discovered “devastating destruction and property damage.”

Ms. Appling said her office was the main target of the attack. Two windows were smashed and the water used to put out the fire caused more damage. Ms. Appling said the graffiti was particularly disturbing. “When I drove to the office and saw that, my immediate reaction was surprise at how public the threat was,” she said. The graffiti includes an anarchist symbol and the numbers 1312, an abbreviation for an anti-police slur.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin also denounced the violence in a statement. The group’s president, Tanya Atkinson, said: “Our work is to protect continued access to love-based reproductive care. “We condemn all forms of violence and hatred in our community.”

In a statement to The New York Times, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which works with the Wisconsin Family Foundation, attributed the attack to left-wing extremists intended to intimidate anti-government protesters. abortion and he swore that they would not succeed. . He added: “We are grateful for the unwavering leadership of Wisconsin Family Action and the dozens of family policy councils around the country that have committed to making sanctity of all human life possible. .

The north side of Madison, which the Wisconsin Family Foundation calls home, is not a sleepy neighborhood. Located just off a busy street, International Lane, this long brown corporate office building sits next to the Dane County Regional Airport, among other casual corporate offices. All properties were empty on Sunday morning, although there was still a steady stream of cars passing by.

Ms Appling said she and others at the organization had received threats in the past and that she knew some would be angry after a draft Supreme Court ruling was leaked.

“I automatically know that anyone who is in favor of opinion writing should probably pay more attention to their safety,” she said. However, this kind of frontal attack was still shocking, and she said it shook her sense of security.

“My tendency is that I’m not very comfortable when our team arrives on Monday,” she said. “Maybe I’ll have to come and have to deal with the insurance and deal with the building management. But I’m not sure I want people to come in and occupy, you know, the area in our office where we have a lot of windows to the outside world.”

She also said she will be working to implement new security measures in the office.

Madison police said arson investigators are working with the Fire Department to confirm the cause of the fire. In a statement Sunday, Madison police chief Shon Barnes acknowledged increased tensions in the community after the draft was leaked and condemned the attack.

“Our department has and continues to support people to be able to speak freely and openly about their beliefs,” statement read“But we feel that any act of violence, including destruction of property, does not support any reason.”