{"id":1822303,"date":"2023-01-24T14:20:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1822303"},"modified":"2023-01-24T14:26:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T19:26:44","slug":"trial-begins-for-mark-houck-the-catholic-pro-life-activist-bidens-doj-wants-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trial-begins-for-mark-houck-the-catholic-pro-life-activist-bidens-doj-wants-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial Begins For Mark Houck, The Catholic Pro-Life Activist Biden\u2019s DOJ Wants Behind Bars"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrial-begins-for-mark-houck-the-catholic-pro-life-activist-bidens-doj-wants-behind-bars%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1822303&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<p>The trial for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/fbi-swat-team-conducts-early-morning-raid-arrests-pro-life-activist-at-pennsylvania-home-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pro-life activist<\/a> And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/catholicism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Catholic<\/a> father of seven Mark Houck started Tuesday before\u00a0U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/doj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Department of Justice<\/a> Houck is being targeted by a non-profit group that offers sidewalk counseling at Philadelphia abortion clinics. This is in response to an incident that occurred in 2021 and involved his 12-year-old son. The family says Houck, who\u2019s been charged with violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act,\u00a0was defending his son from a harassing pro-abortion activist.\u00a0Houck is facing\u00a011 years behind bars and $350,000 in fines if convicted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a political prosecution,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/pro-life-activist-mark-houck-pleads-not-guilty-federal-charges-fbi-arrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> one of Houck\u2019s\u00a0attorneys, Peter Breen, Thomas More Society vice president. Breen stated that Houck is innocent, and that the Biden DOJ took action against him. \u201csend a message\u201d To pro-life Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what\u2019s clear from the Department of Justice\u00a0at its highest levels, which is directing this case, [is] that they are trying to send a message to pro-life and people of faith: \u2018Don\u2019t mess with us,\u2019\u201d He stated. \u201cThey want to intimidate \u2014 they want to cause good people like Mark to stop praying and counseling at the abortion clinics of our country. And that\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat in the world would possess the Department of Justice to send 20 or so heavily armed agents to this family\u2019s home, violate the sanctity of that home, frighten the children and then drag their father away instead of allowing us to present him peacefully, which we had offered to do?\u201d Breen questioned.<\/p>\n<p>Last year&#8217;s press release by the DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edpa\/pr\/bucks-county-man-indicted-federal-charges-assaulting-reproductive-healthcare-clinic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> Houck attacked the abortion escort twice on October 13, 2021. \u201cbecause he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssault is always a serious offense, and under the FACE Act, if the victim is targeted because of their association with a reproductive healthcare clinic, it is a federal crime,\u201d The release was made by U.S. attorney Jacqueline Romero. \u201cOur Office and the Department of Justice are committed to prosecuting crimes which threaten the safety and rights of all individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Mark Houck during pre-trial last week said they\u00a0produced evidence proving that when Congress passed the FACE Act \u201cit expressly intended to exclude so-called \u2018escorts\u2019 operating outside of abortion facilities from being encompassed by the FACE Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FACE Act was never intended to cover disputes between advocates on the public sidewalks outside of our nation\u2019s abortion clinics,\u201d Breen <a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/thomas-more-society-attorneys-drop-bombshell-evidence-in-biden-dojs-persecution-of-pro-life-dad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cThis new evidence shows clearly that Congress intended to limit the FACE Act to patients and staff working in the clinic, and not to take sides between pro-life and pro-choice counselors and escorts on the sidewalk. The Biden Department of Justice\u2019s prosecution of Mark Houck is pure harassment, meant solely to intimidate our nation\u2019s pro-life sidewalk counselors who provide vital resources to help pregnant women at risk for abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/political-prosecution-pro-life-activist-mark-houck-fights-back-pleads-not-guilty-to-federal-charges-after-controversial-arrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u2018Political Prosecution\u2019: Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck Fights Back, Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Charges After Controversial\u00a0Arrest<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The trial for pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven Mark Houck started Tuesday before\u00a0U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Department of Justice is targeting Houck, who leads a nonprofit group that provides sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics in Philadelphia, over an incident &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":1657180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[5327,9657,3706,6011,7076,7013,5200,8347,4853],"class_list":["post-1822303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-activist","tag-bars","tag-bidens","tag-catholic","tag-doj","tag-houck","tag-mark","tag-pro-life","tag-trial"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1657180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}