The US federal police, accused of negligence over attacks on anti-abortion structures, on Thursday offered rewards for any information that could help identify the perpetrators of such acts.
• Also read: Republicans in Congress support abortion
• Also read: Greetings 2022: Abortion rights at the heart of the year’s debates
• Also read: Limited access to abortion linked to increased risk of suicide among young women
The FBI said in a statement it has offered up to $25,000 for information about acts of vandalism or arson and since the spring has targeted a dozen family or religious groups trying to dissuade women from abortion.
The bonus also applies to throwing a Molotov cocktail at an abortion clinic in California.
These awards “reflect the FBI’s determination to vigorously investigate all of these cases,” said its director Christopher Wray, pledged to “prosecute those who hide behind extremist views to justify criminal acts.”
These acts of vandalism, which resulted in no casualties, were recorded after a May 2 ruling by the United States Supreme Court blasting abortion rights in the country was leaked.
Since then, the conservatives have wanted to observe increasing attacks on the structures of abortion opponents and accuse the authorities of not taking them as seriously as the violence against abortion clinics.
Last week, Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed a resolution “blaming the Biden administration for failing to take action to respond to these sweeping attacks.”
By the 1980s, anti-abortion activists had developed shock methods, particularly chaining themselves to clinic gates, so in 1994 the legislature passed legislation criminalizing any act of intimidation or violence in the vicinity of these structures.
Since 1977, there have been 11 murders, 42 bombings, and 196 arson attacks targeting patients, doctors, volunteers, or clinics performing abortions, according to the National Abortion Federation, which records such acts of violence.