FBI offers $25K rewards amid spate of attacks on crisis pregnancy centers

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering $25,000 rewards for information amid a flareup of violent attacks against anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers" around the country, according to a statement released by the agency on Thursday.

"The FBI is seeking the public’s help to identify the individual(s) responsible for a series of attacks and threats targeting reproductive health service facilities across the country," said the FBI statement. "As part of a national awareness effort, the FBI is offering rewards of up to $25,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for these crimes."

The attacks have occurred all over the country, vandalizing facilities like Wisconsin Family Action in Madison Wisconsin, Life Choices in Longmont, Colorado, and Two Hearts Pregnancy Aid in Everett, Washington. In some of the cases, the buildings were attacked with Molotov cocktails; some of the attacks were accompanied with threatening graffiti saying "If abortion isn't safe, you aren't either."

“Today’s announcement reflects the FBI’s commitment to vigorously pursue investigations into crimes against pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, and reproductive health clinics across the country,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “We will continue to work closely with our national, state, and local law enforcement partners to hold responsible anyone who uses extremist views to justify their criminal actions.”

"Crisis pregnancy centers" are facilities, sometimes run by faith-based groups, which target women and try to persuade or shame them out of seeking abortions. Often they are misleadingly named or dressed up to look like abortion clinics themselves, to trick women in. They rarely provide actual health care except for obstetric ultrasounds to confirm a pregnancy, or sometimes STI testing, and may offer some parenting resources like free diapers. Some run abstinence education programs in public schools.

Abortion-related extremism violence has been ongoing for decades. Abortion clinics themselves are also frequently the targets of attacks; last year, Planned Parenthood facilities were vandalized in Chicago and Hempstead, New York; in one of the most famous cases in 2015, a mentally disturbed gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, killing three people and injuring several police officers.