Pro-life dad Mark Houck, who was arrested in a terrifying FBI home raid, has been acquitted in federal court.
Houck’s defense team won their victory at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in the case of United States of America v. Mark Houck.
“We are, of course, thrilled with the outcome,” stated Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation. “Mark and his family are now free of the cloud that the Biden administration threw upon them. We took on Goliath – the full might of the United States government – and won.”
“The jury saw through and rejected the prosecution’s discriminatory case, which was harassment from day one. This is a win for Mark and the entire pro-life movement. The Biden Department of Justice’s intimidation against pro-life people and people of faith has been put in its place,” Breen said.
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Houck was on trial for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act (FACE Act) after he shoved a pro-abortion volunteer escort who was harassing his young son outside an abortion clinic in Philadelphia. The defense argued the law does not apply in this case and that Houck was protecting his son from verbal abuse.
The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.” Houck’s attorneys had argued he did nothing to interfere with anyone’s access to the abortion clinic where the incident occurred.
He was facing up to 11 years in prison if the jury had sided with the Biden administration.
Prior to the raid, attorneys with the Thomas More Society claimed to have sent emails to the FBI, explicitly offering to bring their client in for questioning — an attempt to bypass any inconvenience or danger that could have accompanied a public arrest. Those emails, according to Houck’s attorneys, were unanswered — until heavily armed federal agents showed up at his home early one Friday morning.
BACKGROUND: Houck Trial Becomes ‘Biggest Criminal Case’ for Pro-Life Movement
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