Government vs. Life: Trial begins for pro-life father targeted by Justice Department
Jury selection began Tuesday in a high-profile case against Mark Houck, a pro-life father of seven who is facing a $350,000 fine and 11 years in prison if convicted.
Houck was praying with his 12-year-old son in front of a Planned Parenthood in 2021 when a Planned Parenthood “escort” — someone who walks people to the clinic doors to protect them from “harassment” — allegedly began harassing Houck’s son. The two moved away from the entrance to the building, but the escort followed them and continued yelling at the child. At that point, Houck allegedly pushed him away.
The escort pressed charges against Houck in 2021, which were ultimately dismissed by a federal court – but Biden’s DOJ picked up the case anyway.
Around 7:00 AM on a Friday in September, the Houck family was visited by 15-20 FBI agents, guns drawn, who began pounding on the door and shouting for Houck to come out of the house. Houck tried telling the agents that they were scaring the children, but the agents continued shouting.
“They had big, huge rifles pointed at Mark and pointed at me and kind of pointed throughout the house,” said Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie, though the FBI denies pointing the guns at anyone. “The kids were all just screaming. It was all just very scary and traumatic,” she added.
Though the assault charges were dismissed, Houck is now facing 11 years in prison and a $350,000 fine for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a felony “to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care.” The trial is being heard before U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“This is a political prosecution,” said Thomas More Society Vice-President Peter Breen, one of Houck’s attorneys.
“And what’s clear from the Department of Justice at its highest levels, which is directing this case, [is] that they are trying to send a message to pro-life and people of faith: ‘Don’t mess with us,’” he said. “They want to intimidate — they want to cause good people like Mark to stop praying and counseling at the abortion clinics of our country. And that’s not going to happen.”
During pre-trial last week, Breen says his side brought evidence that the FACE Act was deliberately designed to exclude escorts so they could operate outside the confines of the law.
“The FACE Act was never intended to cover disputes between advocates on the public sidewalks outside of our nation’s abortion clinics,” Breen said. “This new evidence shows clearly that Congress intended to limit the FACE Act to patients and staff working in the clinic, and not to take sides between pro-life and pro-choice counselors and escorts on the sidewalk. The Biden Department of Justice’s prosecution of Mark Houck is pure harassment, meant solely to intimidate our nation’s pro-life sidewalk counselors who provide vital resources to help pregnant women at risk for abortion.”
A GiveSendGo fundraiser for the Houcks was created by Joe and Ashley Garecht, whose two young daughters were harassed in 2019 by then-Rep. Brian Sims (D-PA) as they prayed outside an abortion center. After harassing the girls for several minutes, Sims videoed them and offered $100 to anyone who could provide their identities. The girls were 13 and 15 years old at the time.
