It’s unclear to me whether the group “Jane’s Revenge” actually exists and, if it does, whether there’s any coordination between the person(s) issuing statements on its behalf and the people vandalizing pregnancy crisis centers.
But it’s clear that people *are* vandalizing pregnancy crisis centers across the country since the Dobbs draft opinion leaked and that some of them are claiming an affiliation with “Jane’s Revenge.”
John wrote about the group a month ago, after windows were smashed and graffiti left on a number of offices connected to pro-life groups. The name “Jane’s Revenge” appears to be a nod to the Jane Collective, a pro-choice activist group that performed illegal abortions in the 1960s. After an arson was committed at the office of a Wisconsin pro-life lobbying group in May, a reporter from bellingcat said he’d received a message via a trusted intermediary about it:
They are issuing a 30 day ultimatum for all anti choice organizations and fake clinics (crisis pregnancy centers) to disband. They claim to have the ability to reach multiple states and repeat that the attack in Wisconsin was just a “warning”
— Robert Evans (The Only Robert Evans) (@IwriteOK) May 10, 2022
I don’t understand why Evans believed that the author of the statement was in any way connected to the arson in Wisconsin. There was some graffiti left at the scene (“If abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either”) but no reference to Jane’s Revenge. For all we know, the author was a lone wolf who opportunistically sought to elevate the Wisconsin attack into a phantom national movement. They may have developed a clever moniker after the fact, fed Evans the statement in hopes that he’d be publicize it, then waited for the statement to circulate widely. The idea, perhaps, was that fellow radicals would be inspired by the concept to attack pro-life groups in their own cities and attribute their handiwork to “Jane” or “Jane’s Revenge.”
If so, it worked. “Jane was here” was spray-painted on the wall of a pregnancy crisis center in Amherst, New York, last week as part of another arson attack. A few days earlier, a facility in D.C. was vandalized with graffiti that read “Jane says revenge.” Per the Washington Examiner, no fewer than 13 centers across the U.S. have been victimized by vandalism or arson recently in the wake of the Dobbs leak.
Are any of these attacks being centrally coordinated? Probably not. There may not even be a “center” beyond whoever’s sending out communiques. But terrorism doesn’t need to be coordinated to be successful: Anyone willing to build a suicide bomb, blow up a bus, and leave a video pledging allegiance to ISIS has effectively committed terrorism as part of ISIS even if they weren’t in touch with the high command. Terrorists want people to believe that they’re part of an organization with operatives everywhere, flying beneath the radar, even if they aren’t. That’s much scarier than a series of disconnected lone-wolf attacks.
Today brought a new statement from “Jane’s Revenge.” Was it written by the same person who sent Evans the original message? Who knows? But the intent to incite further attacks — and to make them more lethal — is plain. The key bit:
Your thirty days expired yesterday. We offered an honourable way out. You could have walked away. Now the leash is off. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue. We have demonstrated in the past month how easy and fun it is to attack. We are versatile, we are mercurial, and we answer to no one but ourselves. We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures. Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti. Sometimes you will see what we do, and you will know that it is us. Sometimes you will think you merely are unlucky, because you cannot see the ways which we interfere in your affairs. But your pointless attempts to control others, and make life more difficult, will not be met passively. Eventually your insurance companies, and your financial backers will realize you are a bad investment.
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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 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. 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.
The tone is a rip-off of Anonymous (“We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”) except promising much more by way of “direct action” than hacking. And it’s worth bearing in mind that the likely targets, pregnancy crisis centers, aren’t doing a thing to restrict women’s right to an abortion. There are cops, prosecutors, and judges who are doing that. The crisis center simply aims to persuade women not to exercise their right. The fact that “Jane’s Revenge” is focused on them means they truly are pro-abortion, not pro-choice, and are inclined to stick to “soft targets” where they’re less likely to encounter armed resistance.
Note the first line of the excerpt, by the way. “Honourable” is a curious way for an American to spell “honorable,” no? I ask again: Is there any good reason to believe the author of these statements is connected to the attacks, let alone inside the United States?
On the other hand, does it matter? If the “Jane’s Revenge” conceit is working to inspire Americans to vandalize or kill, the author is practicing stochastic terrorism effectively. The terror campaign may be able to sustain momentum even if there are no further messages.
“Jane’s Revenge” recently released another statement titled “Night of Rage.” Buckle up:
On the night the final [Dobbs] 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 for 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. We do not claim to speak for every community or crew. We are simply calling out to you. And we hope you answer our cries.
We’ll likely have the Dobbs decision before the end of June. Sounds to me like things are about to get “fiery but mostly peaceful.”
If I were Joe Biden, I’d want my DOJ on the case here pronto. Not just because I owe a civic and moral duty to protect the lives and property of innocent Americans but because a wave of pro-choice domestic terrorism is about the only way the electoral picture for Democrats could conceivably get worse before fall. It’d be the cherry on a giant sh*t sundae. Hop to it, Joe.
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