Pro-life activist Mark Houck and his wife are filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the way their family was treated during his intense arrest at gunpoint.
The Houcks initiated legal action on November 6, pursuing compensation for charges including assault, false arrest, abuse of process, malicious and retaliatory prosecution, and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Mark Houck, a Catholic, and father of seven, was arrested at his home in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, in the early hours of September 23, 2022, when his family awoke to find a group of heavily armed FBI agents at their front door.
The arrest resulted from a confrontation in October 2021 between Mr. Houck and an elderly escort at a Planned Parenthood clinic—an incident where local authorities opted not to press charges.
However, over a year later, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought charges against Mr. Houck for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act twice. This law prohibits violent and threatening behavior aimed at disrupting an individual’s right to “seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”
In January, a jury cleared Mr. Houck of those charges. However, as per the grievances filed by the Graves