Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck pleaded not guilty to federal charges on Tuesday after the FBI arrested him at his home in rural Pennsylvania last week in connection to an alleged altercation with an abortion escort outside an abortion clinic in October 2021.
Houck has been accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care. He pleaded not guilty to two counts on Tuesday.
His attorney, Peter Breen, said that the case already made its way through the state court process and was thrown out, but the Biden Department of Justice took up the matter nearly a year later as a form of “political prosecution.” Of the estimated 20 FBI agents who came to Houck’s home, Breen said the DOJ is treating the peaceful father “as if he was a drug lord or a mafia boss.”
“It put officers’ lives in danger. It put the Houck family in danger. And it was an utter waste of judicial resources and taxpayer resources,” Breen said.
