Pro-abortion violence is on the rise. After a Supreme Court draft opinion foreshadowing the demise of Roe v. Wade leaked, an outpouring of outrage from the left ensued. Activists have been protesting at the homes of conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices. Even more recently, the authorities apprehended a young man who wished to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But even further, some in the pro-abortion camp have resorted to violence and vandalism against pro-life organizations. One such group that has gained notoriety is called “Jane’s Revenge,” and has carried out multiple such acts over the past two months.
The group first announced itself in a May 8 post on the anonymous blogging host noblogs.org after an arson attack on Family Action, a Wisconsin pro-life advocacy group. The group took credit for the attack and referred to it as a “warning” against those opposing abortion. Its authors said they were victims of a “war” and that they have been “shot, bombed, and forced into childbirth without consent.” The group also claimed to have a national presence.
In the post, the group made the dubious claim that violence against abortion doctors and clinics was being perpetrated with “impunity” and called for “the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next thirty days.”
Robert Evans, a left-leaning journalist who writes for Bellingcat, posted screenshots of the post after receiving it from “an anonymous intermediary” that he trusts. In another statement posted on May 30, the group called for a “Night of Rage” on the night the Supreme Court’s ruling is handed down.
According to the National Catholic Register, the group appears to be named after the Jane Collaborate, an “illegal abortion procurement ring operating out of Chicago in the late 1960s and early 1970s.” The group is believed to have performed abortions on about 11,000 women, according to the report.
Jane’s Revenge appears to pride itself on being more radical than others in the pro-abortion space. Its May 30 post suggested creating “autonomously organized self-defense networks” and slammed mainstream activists at their “demure little rallies for freedom.”
The post also claimed pro-lifers “work to oppress” them. It also repeated the message it spray-painted on Family Action’s wall: “If abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either. We are everywhere.”
The Wisconsin attack seems to be the group’s first. But it has claimed credit for other such acts. Its operatives spray-painted the words “Jane’s Revenge” on the walls of the Alpha Pregnancy Center in Reisterstown, Maryland.
Activists with the group also vandalized St. Michael Parish in Olympia on May 22 and wrote, “abort the church” on one of its walls. They also went after protestant churches as well. The Bo Brown Memorial Cell of Jane’s Revenge sent a message to Puget Sound Anarchists in which it claimed responsibility for the acts. The activists said they targeted churches because of their connections to crisis pregnancy centers, which they referred to as “religious fake clinics that manipulate mostly poor people into having and keeping children they don’t want or aren’t ready for and marrying whomever impregnated them whether or not that relationship is healthy or safe.”
The group’s actions are very much similar to that of other left-wing terrorist groups. Its operatives engage in violence against property and buildings as a way of using fear to push its pro-abortion agenda. So far, it has not targeted humans, but at this point, it would not be surprising if its operations escalated to that level. But would it be fair to classify Jane’s Revenge as a terrorist organization? According to Kyle Shideler, a senior analyst for the Homeland Security and Terrorism at the Center for Security Policy, the answer might be “yes.”
Shideler told the National Catholic Register that he believes the group’s actions are intended to “intimidate an arm of the government,” referring to the Supreme Court. He also noted that they wish “to intimidate the public, members of the pro-life movement, and to disrupt their ability to organize at the state and local level.”
The analyst noted that Jane’s Revenge insisted its operatives would “escalate violence if the government does not do what they wish” and argued that this “is the definition of terrorism.”
Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect Democratic politicians and members of the activist media to even pay attention to this group, much less refer to them as a terrorist outfit. For now, it appears the left is giving Jane’s Revenge the Antifa Treatment, meaning they are largely ignoring it. If and when the organization does decide to graduate from vandalizing and firebombing buildings to assaulting human beings, we can rely on our vaunted Fourth Estate to do what it does best: Downplay it and pretend it’s Trump’s fault or something.
