Pro-abortion ‘terror group’ Jane’s Revenge – which has vowed a ‘Night of Rage’ over the repeal of Roe v. Wade – is most likely a loose-knit assembly of ‘anarchist’ cells, according to a security expert.
The shadowy group relies on inciting people to vandalize and torch pro-life clinics and facilities through calls to arms on its website, says Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, DC-based think tank.
Jane’s Revenge has already firebombed crisis pregnancy centers in the wake of the the Supreme Court draft opinion leak last month that revealed the court planned to overturn a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion.
The organization used violent rhetoric in its calls for a ‘Night of Rage’ in a May 30 ‘communique’, vowing to mobilize when the right was overturned, as it was formally announced Friday.
Pro-abortion ‘terror group’ Jane’s Revenge warned ‘anti-choice’ organizations that the ‘leash is off’ and that it will make it ‘as hard as possible for your campaign of oppressions to continue’ in a June 15 communiqué
The Compass Care, a Christian crisis pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York was firebombed on June 7. The building was also vandalized with graffiti reading, ‘Jane was here’
North Carolina-based Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, was also targeted in a series of vandalism attacks carried out by the pro-abortion extremists on June 7
Now pregnancy crisis centers and religious organizations have been attacked in its name in Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Texas, North Carolina, New York, Florida and Massachusetts.
‘My suspicion in we are probably dealing with a number of anarchist cells rather than a strictly speaking hierarchical group,’ said Shideler.
‘I doubt there is a boss of Jane’s Revenge. I don’t expect that they have managers or leadership or logistics or anything like that.
‘Rather that post on May 30 was a call for action, such that anybody who took action of the kind that they called for, could be considered members.’
Kyle Shideler, director and senior analyst for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy think tank in Washington, DC says predicting the group’s actions will be challenging because of their loose structure
He added: ‘In this sense it is more of a fourth-generation style terrorist type group that we see with groups like Antifa, where membership is determined by your actions on behalf of the group not by any sort of formal process.’
Jane’s Revenge posted on May 30: ‘On the night the final ruling is issued – a specific date we cannot yet predict, but we know is arriving imminently – we are asking for courageous hearts to come out after dark.
‘Whoever you are and wherever you are, we are asking you to do what you can to make your anger known.
‘We have selected a time of 8pm for actions nationwide to begin, but know that this is a general guideline. There may be other considerations involved in planning time and place.’
The latest attack appears to have been on The Lennon Pregnancy Center in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, on June 19. Three glass doors and 11 windows were smashed.
Additionally, the words ‘if abortion isn’t safe, neither are you’ were painted on the building – a mantra that has been scrawled in red paint during attacks on other establishments.
One of the first attacks was against Wisconsin Family Action in Madison, which was firebombed with Molotov cocktails in early May.
Jane’s Revenge claimed responsibility with the words: ‘This was only a warning. We demand the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics and violent anti-choice groups within the next 30 days.
‘We are not one group but many. We are in your city. We are in every city.’
In a letter dated June 14 and posted to the Jane’s Revenge website on Wednesday, the group claimed responsibility for the attacks as they pointed to a supposed 30-day deadline for all pro-life groups to cease operations
The extremist group owned up to the first attack against a clinic in Madison, Wisconsin in early May
Some of the destruction (pictured here) of the Madison attack at the Wisconsin Family Center that was hit by the group Janes Revenge that claimed responsibility for the May 8, 2022 attack
Threatening graffiti which reads ‘A 1312’ is seen on the exterior of Wisconsin Family Action offices in Madison, Wis., on Sunday, May 8, 2022
Earlier this month, the extremists vandalized and firebombed Compass Care, a pro-life Christian pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York, inflicting significant damage to the building.
Jane’s Revenge claimed responsibility for the attack – and one three days later at the Gresham Pregnancy Resource Centre near Salem, Washington. It was also firebombed when a Molotov Cocktail was hurled through a window early on June 10 and caused extensive damage.
Shideler believes the threatened ‘Night of Rage’ – if it comes – will be carried out by individuals and small groups taking spontaneous action which will be difficult to predict because of the loose structure.
‘This kind of thing comes of out this insurrectionist anarchy tradition of just act, don’t wait for instructions, don’t expect anybody to do it for you. Simply take an action and it will be part of the effort,’ he said.
However, he added: ‘I believe there will be a tendency towards more and more direct action. I think the majority of actions are going to be what we’ve seen, low level vandalism, but you are going to see intensity at some levels.’
Asked if this could potentially result in deaths, Shideler, who is based in Washington DC, replied: ‘We’ve already seen fire bombings and when you throw fire there is always that danger.
‘It is certainly possible that they could escalate to violence against human beings. Language in their communique sort of hinted at that.
‘It is possible they are willing to go to that level. But for the most part you don’t see that from these types of anarchist groups, quite deliberately.
The Compass Care, a Christian pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York was firebombed on June 7. The windows in the reception room and nurses’ office were broken and fires lit
Compass Care’s Buffalo office exterior was charred by fire
‘They try to maintain a low intensity violence, just below the level that will draw too much attention from authorities – or do something that they think will cause their base to turn against them.
He added: ‘The point is always the propaganda in this kind of action. The target is specially selected to make a point. Often they don’t want too much in the way of human casualties, because that will derail the point. They don’t want to turn people against them.’
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is among Republicans who have demanded federal investigations and firm action against Jane’s Revenge.
He sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland on June 15 demanding a stronger effort to tackle the group and their ‘call for an open season against pro-life pregnancy centers and organizations’.
Naming Jane’s Revenge in the correspondence, the senator wrote: ‘Despite the damage that has already been done and even through these groups have kept their promise to raise the violent stakes, the DOJ has not been faithful to its promise of ensuring the public’s safety against these violent, radical activists.
‘To date there has not been a single charge brought against any individual or group despite the countless pro-life centers in America that have been vandalized and firebombed in recent months.’
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is among Republicans who have demanded federal investigations and firm action against Jane’s Revenge
Six days later the FBI confirmed it was investigating the wave of attacks, saying it takes all such threats seriously and was continuing to work with law enforcement agencies around the country.
However, Shideler believes efforts to identify any members of Jane’s Revenge stand a much better chance with investigations at a local level.
‘We don’t have any idea about the individuals driving this as much as we ought to,’ he said.
‘There are pre-existing anarchist cells in most major cities that are willing to engage in this kind of behavior, or recruit or support this kind of behavior.
‘Big areas for this kind of activity are the Pacific North West. It’s not an accident that we saw a major action from Jane’s Revenge in that region. That’s the kind of people they are most likely recruiting from.’
He added: ‘The people who took action against pregnancy crisis centers in Wisconsin are probably from Wisconsin and so on.
‘They are part of local groups who already exist there and local law enforcement needs to know who those people are.
‘They need to know who moves in what circles, that kind of thing. So when you have an incident such as an attack in the name of Jane’s Revenge you know what and maybe who you are dealing with.’
In the letter, which claims that Jane’s Revenge is ‘not one group but many,’ and has disseminated ‘communiqués in locations across the country, but mainly in the Pacific Northwest.
They’ve claimed responsibility for various attacks in Madison, Wisconsin; Ft. Collins, Colorado; Des Moines, Iowa; Hollywood, Florida; Denton, Texas; and Washington, D.C.
They also claimed to have attacked Portland, Eugene and Gresham in Oregon, along with Olympia, Lynwood and Vancouver in Washington state, and Reisterstown and Frederick in Maryland.
‘From here forward, any anti-choice group who closes their doors, and stops operating will no longer be a target. But until you do, it’s open season, and we know where your operations are,’ the letter reads, with the group adding that it appeals to anyone ‘with the urge to paint, to burn, to cut, to jam’ to commit violence.
‘The infrastructure of the enslavers will not survive. We will never stop, back down, slow down, or retreat. We did not want this; but it is upon us, and so we must deal with it proportionally. We exist in confluence and solidarity with all others in the struggle for complete liberation,’ the letter reads.
‘Our recourse now is to defend ourselves and to build robust, caring communities of mutual aid, so that we may heal ourselves without the need of the medical industry or any other intermediary. Through attacking, we find joy, courage, and strip the veneer of impenetrability held by these violent institutions.’
