Tipsheet

Pro-Life Father Targeted by DOJ Has Had a Productive Few Days Sticking It to Biden

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  February 08, 2023 4:00 PM

Late last month, Mark Houck, the pro-life husband and father of seven was acquitted of federal charges for violating the the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. His arrest came as the FBI raided his home in the early morning hours last September, traumatizing his family. That Houck was acquitted is revenge enough against the Biden administration's overly politicized Department of Justice (DOJ), but the pro-life activist has also had a busy few days.

Houck appeared as the guest of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) during President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday. 

Houck and his wife, Ryan-Marie Houck, also posed for pictures with other pro-life Republican members who were not shy about speaking out against the treatment that the family endured.

The very next day, Houck returned to pray outside the Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia, where he has not been since his arrest last September. He was joined by fellow pro-lifers, including many groups, such as the Christian Defense Coalition and the Pro-life Union of Greater Philadelphia. 

Reverend Pat Mahoney, who was praying outside the facility and who has spoken up on behalf of Houck over social media, is quoted in a press release from the Christian Defense Coalition. "It was deeply troubling to see these unjust federal charges brought against longtime, pro-life leader, Mark Houck. The arrest, charges, and federal trial were clearly an attempt by the Department of Justice to silence a peaceful, prayerful, and public pro-life witness in front of the Philadelphia Planned Parenthood abortion center and across the country," he said. 

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But, as his message also emphasized, pro-lifers are not deterred by this administration. "As we gathered to pray on the public sidewalk with Mark, the pro-life community sent a powerful message that we will not be bullied or intimidated into silence or fear by the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement. We came together in unity to offer women with unexpected pregnancies hope and care, and to pray for an end to the violence of abortion," the reverend continued. 

The pro-life activist was not the only guest victimized by the Biden administration and his DOJ. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), reference Houck over Twitter and shared an op-ed that he co-wrote with Rep. Perry for the Washington Examiner on how "Biden should face the victims of his weaponized bureaucratic state." How guest was Scott Smith. 

Smith was the father in Loudoun County, Virginia, who was arrested after expressing outrage at a school board meeting in June 2021 after school officials tried to brush off and deny allegations that a 14-year-old boy who liked to wear skirts had committed sexual assaults across the district. It was revealed in October of that year that Smith was not reacting to outrage over Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other woke concepts, but that the district swept the incidents under the rug when his daughter was one of the victims. 

As the congressmen's op-ed reminds readers, outraged parents, like Smith, were targeted and smeared by the National School Boards Association and Attorney General Merrick Garland as domestic terrorists. Worse, the administration has covered up and dismissed such targeting. 

The Biden administration has also targeted women and girls' sports in the name of so-called "equality," which has also been replaced by "equity." Not only has Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona condoned biological boys competing alongside young women and girls, but Biden used his address on Tuesday night to call for passing the Equality Act, supposedly so that "LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity." 

That so-called "safety and dignity," though, comes at the expense of "safety and dignity" of young women, like Riley Gaines, who as Madeline covered, was the guest of Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI). Gaines has spoken out about being forced to compete with and even change in the locker room alongside biological men, including in an interview with Townhall. 

Biden's promotion of such legislation came after his brief remarks on abortion, during which he lamented that the so-called "right" to abortion from Roe v. Wade was taken away with last June's Dobbs v. Jackson case. To applause from Democrats and a standing ovation from Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden claimed "Congress must restore that right," even though the legislation he was referring to, the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), would actually expand Roe by allowing for unlimited abortion throughout the country without legal limit. 

The president also lambasted Republicans in Congress and at the state level for so-called "extreme abortion bans." It's worth reminding, though, that pro-life initiatives--which are just as vehemently opposed by this administration and many Democratic members--also don't even necessarily restrict abortion. One resolution passed in the House last month merely calls out the surge of violence from pro-abortion extremists, yet was still condemned by most Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media. 

Not only has the Biden administration been targeting pro-lifers--and Houck is not the only one--they've been slow to go after the other side.

Making such a hypocritical, politicized, and selective regard for enforcing the law and calling out violence even more rich, is that Biden called out "political violence" on Tuesday night to acknowledge Paul Pelosi. As Guy highlighted, though in critiquing the address, the president failed to call out how someone was arrested for wanting to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh following the leak of the Dobbs draft. The associate justice was present at the address on Tuesday night.