{"id":1829246,"date":"2023-01-30T15:49:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T20:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1829246"},"modified":"2023-01-30T15:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T20:52:52","slug":"mark-houck-catholic-pro-life-activist-facing-11-years-in-prison-acquitted-at-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mark-houck-catholic-pro-life-activist-facing-11-years-in-prison-acquitted-at-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Houck, Catholic Pro-Life Activist Facing 11 Years In Prison, Acquitted At Trial"},"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\">26<\/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%2Fmark-houck-catholic-pro-life-activist-facing-11-years-in-prison-acquitted-at-trial%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=1829246&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>After a lengthy trial that lasted a week, a Catholic prolife activist who was facing up to 11 years imprisonment for violating a federal statute prohibiting people from blocking others&#8217; access to an abortion clinic was acquitted Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Houck is the leader of a non-profit group that counsels women in Philadelphia outside of abortion clinics. He was doing sidewalk counseling at the time. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-edpa\/pr\/bucks-county-man-indicted-federal-charges-assaulting-reproductive-healthcare-clinic\">The Department of Justice has this to say<\/a>He assaulted a two-time abortion escort \u201cbecause he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAssault is always a serious offense, and under the [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] FACE Act, if the victim is targeted because of their association with a reproductive healthcare clinic, it is a federal crime,\u201d In a DOJ press release, Jacqueline Romero, U.S. Attorney, stated that. \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>FACE Act: Injuring, inciting, or interfering with any person due to their status of producer of reproductive health care is a federal offense.<\/p>\n<p>Houck with his attorneys at Thomas More Society <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/trial-begins-for-mark-houck-the-catholic-pro-life-activist-bidens-doj-wants-behind-bars\">Discuss<\/a>However, this \u201cis a political prosecution\u201d It is meant to \u201csend a message\u201d To pro-life Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what\u2019s clear from the Department of Justice at 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 Peter Breen, vice-president of Thomas More Society <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/pro-life-activist-mark-houck-pleads-not-guilty-federal-charges-fbi-arrest\">Telled<\/a> Fox News. \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>Breen stated to the outlet that while the case was dismissed by state court, it was revived almost a year later by the Biden administration. Further, Breen said, some 20 FBI agents raided Houck\u2019s home when they arrested him, treating him \u201cas if he was a drug lord or a mafia boss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he was truly a danger to the community, they wouldn\u2019t have waited a year to prosecute,\u201d Breen. \u201cSerious questions need to be asked of the attorney general. What was he thinking? Why did they do this obscene show of force against a peaceful pillar of the community?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Houck\u2019s lawyers also argue that the DOJ\u2019s claim that the FACE Act protects anyone associated with an abortion clinic is not accurate.<\/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\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thomasmoresociety.org\/thomas-more-society-attorneys-drop-bombshell-evidence-in-biden-dojs-persecution-of-pro-life-dad\/\"><\/a> In a statement released earlier this month. \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>Houck pleaded no guilty to the charges. He testified that he had two fights with Bruce Love, the clinic&#8217;s escort on the date in question. Houck was in the midst of counseling two women walking down the street who had left Planned Parenthood. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/253490\/mark-houck-trial-jury-deadlocked-will-resume-deliberations-jan-30\">reported<\/a>. Life News reports that Houck was chased by Love about 100 feet to prevent him from counseling the women. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2023\/01\/30\/jury-decides-today-whether-mark-houck-goes-to-prison-for-11-years-for-protesting-abortion\/\">reported<\/a>. Houck claimed Love surprised him and made contact, prompting him to ask \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d To move the escort out of his way, I reflexively elbowed him in the hip. Houck, a clinic escort, was alleged to have unprovokedly elbowed Love.<\/p>\n<p>After this, Houck said Love left the clinic and stood near Houck\u2019s 12-year-old son while taunting Houck Sr, saying, \u201cYou\u2019re hurting women. You don\u2019t care about women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Houck said Love also repeatedly disparaged him to his son, who testified on Friday that Love stood about an arm\u2019s length away from him near the clinic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI moved away\u2026 because I was scared,\u201d Houck was younger and added that Love told him \u201cYour dad\u2019s a bad person. Your dad\u2019s harassing women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Houck had repeatedly told Love to stop harassing him son, and Houck claimed that he drove Love away.<\/p>\n<p>The jury deadlocked on Friday after two-and-a-half hours of deliberation, telling U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert that they didn\u2019t think they could come to a conclusion given more time. Pappert sent out the jury to go home, but told them to come back Monday morning so they could continue deliberations.<\/p>\n<p>Houck was acquitted by the jury on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Catholic pro-life activist facing 11 years in prison for allegedly violating a federal law prohibiting people from blocking others from entering an abortion clinic was acquitted on Monday following a week-long trial. Mark Houck leads a nonprofit group that counsels women outside of abortion clinics in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was providing sidewalk counseling when, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":1829249,"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":[17019,5327,6011,4528,7013,5200,3891,8347,4853],"class_list":["post-1829246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire","tag-acquitted","tag-activist","tag-catholic","tag-facing","tag-houck","tag-mark","tag-prison","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\/1829246","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\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1829249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1829246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1829246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}