Pro-Life Activist Whose Home Was Raided by the FBI Is Now Running for US Congress
The pro-life father who found himself targeted by the Biden administration is now running for Congress.
Mark Houck is a pro-life activist and the father of seven children who was arrested by armed FBI agents in an early morning raid at his home. He was charged by the Department of Justice but then later acquitted of all charges in federal court.
Now he's running for Pennsylvania's 1st District congressional seat. The district includes all of Bucks County and a small portion of Montgomery County in southeastern Pennsylvania.
The district has been represented by Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican, since 2019. Fitzpatrick is a former FBI agent.
"I am running for Congress to further protect my family, those in the 1st district & the Republic," Houck said on his campaign's website. "I will focus on restoring traditional values & principles that are central to the American identity, such as faith, family, & freedom of speech, religion, & the right to bear arms."
As CBN News reported, Houck was arrested in a terrifying pre-dawn FBI raid last September. He was put on trial for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act (FACE Act) after he shoved a pro-abortion volunteer escort who was harassing his young son outside an abortion clinic in Philadelphia. The defense argued the law did not apply in this case and that Houck was protecting his son from verbal abuse.
The FACE Act prohibits "violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services." Houck's attorneys argued he did nothing to interfere with anyone's access to the abortion clinic where the incident occurred.
As CBN News reported last January, Houck was acquitted on all charges by a federal court. If the jury had sided with the Biden administration, he could have faced up to 11 years in prison and a $350,000 fine.
Following the jury's "Not Guilty" verdict, Thomas Moore Society Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation Peter Breen, who represented Houck in his case said, "We took on Goliath—the full might of the United States government—and won. The jury saw through and rejected the prosecution's discriminatory case, which was harassment from Day One. This is a win for Mark and the entire pro-life movement. The Biden Department of Justice's intimidation against pro-life people and people of faith has been put in its place."
Houck and his wife Ryan-Marie previously told The Daily Signal that they believe they were targeted by the Biden DOJ in an effort to intimidate, silence, and scare the family for their pro-life work—praying outside abortion clinics for the women headed inside to abort their unborn babies.
During an interview with the outlet earlier this spring, Ryan-Marie said she hoped her children "grow up and remember how courageous their father was" on that traumatic day for her family. "I hope they remember the faith that we had. That God did not abandon us and was with us every step. I hope they just remember the truth prevailed."
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Last May, Houck testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, telling lawmakers he thought the FBI raided his home to "humiliate me, to scare my children, and to instill fear in pro-life America."
"My children were downrange of many guns, and they screamed through the whole process. The committee should know that they were traumatized," he said.
In an interview with the Catholic News Agency on Friday, Houck said that his arrest and trial played a part in his decision to run for office.
"I know firsthand what it's like to be attacked by the federal government. I know firsthand how the enemy of the state can be created by virtue of your faith," he said. "And I want to protect the 1st District of Pennsylvania and all families in the 1st District from that ever happening to them."
