Republican legislators, along with the pro-life community, have already brought into question the extremely over-the-top federal targeting of one pro-life man, Mark Houck — and recently unveiled information coming from a private criminal complaint seemingly only makes the circumstances surrounding the arrest much more suspicious.
As the leader of a large nonprofit group that offers sidewalk counseling near abortion clinics out in Philadelphia, Houck was taken into custody by a group of over 20 FBI agents and slammed with charges pertaining to the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act this past month for allegedly shoving an abortion escort roughly a year ago.
However, a private criminal complaint officially filed by Houck’s accuser, later identified as Bruce Love, does not actually state that the man was escorting patients of Planned Parenthood at the time the alleged incident took place, explains a recent report from The Federalist.
Houck “was standing on the corner and [Love] was standing a few feet away from [Houck] waiting for clients,” expressed the criminal complaint from Love. “[Houck] stated to [Love] to stay away from him and that he will push [Love] into the street. As [Love] was walking away from [Houck], [Love] states [Houck] pushed [Love] causing him to fall to the ground.”
Going further, the private complaint which the court finally outright dismissed due to the fact that Love failed to show up, does not seem to indicate Planned Parenthood “patients” or “reproductive access” were involved at all throughout the alleged incident and, as a result, directly calls into question any and all charges issued via the FACE Act that are currently pending against Houck.
The account of the conflict coming from Houck focuses on Love allegedly harassing Houck’s young 12-year-old son while the pair were praying together on the sidewalk. The heavily pro-abortion activist was shouting anti-gay slurs about Mr. Houck to the child, along with various other harassment, the family has stated.
“Last year, Mark and his son were praying in front of the [Planned Parenthood] at 12th and Locust,” stated a GiveSendGo fundraising account created to assist the family. “When one of the escorts began harassing Mark’s son they walked down the street away from the entrance to the building. The escort followed them, and when he continued yelling at Mark’s son, Mark pushed him away.”
“It’s all on video,” the post goes on. “But that hasn’t stopped Planned Parenthood and the Biden Administration. With no prior warning, and in spite of the fact that Mark is represented by an attorney, Biden’s Justice Department sent a fully armed SWAT team into a home full of young children at daybreak, to arrest a father for protecting his son.”
If convicted, the Catholic father is looking at an 11-year stint in prison and extreme fines totaling up to $350,000.