DETROIT — An anti-abortion pregnancy center and the home of a board member were vandalized with threatening messages early Saturday morning.
The graffiti was spray-painted on the facades of Pregnancy Aid Detroit in Eastpointe and the board member’s home in Grosse Pointe Woods, said the group.
“Jeanne, if abortions aren’t safe neither are you!” read the message on the garage door and driveway of the Grosse Pointe home.
The homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified, was awakened by a noise outside her home Saturday at 2 a.m., said Nancy Anter, executive director of Pregnancy Aid.
She looked outside to see two people, wearing masks and dark clothes, run from the house and jump into a Prius.
The home’s video doorbell also was spray-painted in red and a windowpane was broken, said Anter.
“I’m not sure what their end game is, what their goal is, other than to hate,” she said.
At the Pregnancy Aid office, the spray-painted messages read, “Liar,” “Fake Clinic” and “Jane’s Revenge.”
Jane’s Revenge is the name of a group that has been linked to other attacks against anti-abortion entities in Michigan and around the country.
In June a Jackson building that contained the offices of an anti-abortion group and the campaign office of U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg was vandalized. Several windows were broken and someone spray-painted a message that read, “Jane’s Revenge.”
The office graffiti was scrawled on the side of the building, out of reach of its security cameras, said Anter. It seemed to be written by two people, one using script and one block letters, she said.
The group reported the incidents to police in Eastpointe and Grosse Pointe Woods, who weren’t immediately available to discuss them.
The investigation could involve federal authorities if found to be a violation of the FACE Act, which stands for freedom of access to clinic entrances.
Anter said she was especially disturbed by the personal nature of the attack on a person’s home. It showed that the vandals had researched the organization to learn who was affiliated with it, she said.
“So that’s creepy,” she said about the research. “And it’s criminal. You can’t threaten people with bodily harm. It’s a hate crime.”
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