(Mike Osborne) — Metro Police and the FBI are investigating an attempted arson in downtown Nashville that appears to be a response to last week’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade.
In a press statement, MNPD says someone vandalized Hope Clinic located just off Church Street near St. Thomas Hospital Midtown. The clinic is a faith-based, pro-life facility that provides counseling and resources to pregnant women in hopes of steering them away from abortions.
Early Thursday morning, someone smashed the clinic’s front window and scrawled the words “Janes Revenge” on the side of the building. The vandals also threw a crude gasoline bomb called a Molotov cocktail at the clinic, but the device failed to ignite.
Jane's Revenge is a hashtag that's been used nationwide in recent weeks by individuals or groups claiming responsibility for a series of attacks on facilities like Hope Clinic. The attacks began shortly after a draft of the Supreme Court's Dobbs vs Jackson decision overturning Roe vs Wade was leaked to the press in May.
The Jane's Revenge website claims individuals using the hashtag have vandalized faith-based, pro-life counseling facilities in more than a dozen states. The website has not yet posted any claim of responsibility regarding Thursday's incident in Nashville.
In a Twitter post Thursday afternoon, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called the Nashville clinic vandalism "terrorism." He went on to say it "should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."