Mark Houck, an anti-abortion activist who was accused of assaulting a 72-year-old clinic volunteer outside a Planned Parenthood, was acquitted Monday of charges
The Department of Justice charged Houk with two counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The DOJ accused Houck of twice assaulting the volunteer at the Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center in Philadelphia., the then-47-year-old Houck “forcefully shoved B.L. to the ground” and then, in a second altercation the same day, “verbally confronted B.L. and forcefully shoved B.L. to the ground.” Houck did this “because B.L.
“Assault is always a serious offense, and under the FACE Act, if the victim is targeted because of their association with a reproductive health care clinic, it is a federal crime,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero said in the statement. The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force, threats, or physical obstruction to block the entrance to reproductive health clinics. Houck was arrested last year by armed FBI agents at his Bucks County home, and faced up to 11 years in prison plus three years of supervised release, in addition to a maximum fine of $350,000.by MAGA media, and was framed by Houck and his supporters as an exhibit of conservative persecution.
“This case has been nothing but an intimidation tactic by the Biden Justice Department,” said Peter Breen, the Thomas More Society — a Catholic public-interest law firm — attorney representing Houck, according to the. “This matter never should have drawn the attention of the Department of Justice. And our hope here is that message was sent to Washington, D.C. to stop this harassment.”
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