Pro-choice group claims arson attack on Wisconsin anti-abortion office

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 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. Nobody was hurt.

The Madison attack came days after the leaking of a supreme court draft ruling that would overturn its 1973 Roe v Wade decision and end almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections.

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

Arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks were among more than 300 acts of extreme violence recorded by the Rand Corporation 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 magazine reported that the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics nationwide had dropped precipitously, partly because of the constant threat of violence against personnel. Six states, MS said, had only one abortion provider, mostly small, independent operators who were considered most at risk.