FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Heather Valenzano
Jan. 31, 2023 hvalenzano@lifeissues.org, 513-719-5813
Pro-life sidewalk counselor Mark Houck was found not guilty of violating the FACE Act. This verdict came four months after numerous armed FBI agents raided his home and arrested him in front of his wife and children.
The jury began deliberating on Friday but was deadlocked going into the weekend. They came to their verdict on Monday.
The case was over an incident that occurred in October 2021. Houck was praying and counseling outside a Philadelphia abortion facility with his then-twelve-year-old son. An abortion escort approached them and began harassing the young boy. Houck tried to push the escort away; the escort fell but wasn’t hurt.
The escort was clearly the aggressor, but Houck was the one who was charged with committing a federal crime.
“It was an overreach of power to arrest and charge a peaceful and prayerful pro-life father for protecting his young son,” Bradley Mattes, president of Life Issues Institute, said. “I hope the jury’s decision sends a clear message to the Department of Justice that weaponizing their bureaucracy was a mistake and that justice has prevailed. Mark should never have been arrested.”
The DOJ’s goal was to scare and intimate pro-life advocates into silence and inactivity. If Houck had been found guilty, the repercussions would have been devastating, for him and for pro-life advocates across the country.
Life Issues Institute is grateful for the trial’s outcome. This is a huge victory for pro-life advocates everywhere.
For requests to interview Bradley Mattes, use contact information above.
Life Issues Institute is dedicated to changing hearts and minds of millions of people through pro-life education. Organizations and individuals around the world depend upon Life Issues Institute to provide the latest information and effective tools to protect innocent human life from fertilization to natural death.
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