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A pro-life activist accused of shoving a 72-year-old volunteer escort to the ground has been awarded a seven-figure settlement in a wrongful arrest lawsuit.
Mark Houck, a Pennsylvania man known for sidewalk counselling, was alleged to have assaulted the volunteer on two occasions near the Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center in Philadelphia, federal prosecutors say. Both incidents were alleged to have taken place on October 13, 2021.
Almost a year later, in September 2022, Houck was indicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
The FACE Act prohibits the use of force to injure, intimidate or interfere with anyone seeking or providing reproductive health services.
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However, last week Shawn Carney, the president of the pro-life campaign known as 40 Days for Life, confirmed that Houck had won a wrongful arrest lawsuit against the Justice Department. The pro-life group’s Institute of Law and Justice had represented Houck in the lawsuit.
“Mark’s family has been awarded over a million dollars for what they went through in the ridiculous 2021 raid of his home,” Carney said in an official statement, referring to Houck’s arrest.
In the video, he went on to describe the outcome as a “huge legal victory for free speech.”
Carney also claimed that Houck’s son, who was praying with his father outside of the Planned Parenthood center on October 13, 2021, had faced “harassing” behavior from the volunteer.
Federal prosecutors allege that the volunteer, whom they only refer to as “B.L.” was shoved to the ground by Houck in the first incident outside the center. At the time, B.L. had been escorting two patients as they exited the facility.
In the second incident, federal prosecutors say Houck “verbally confronted” B.L. before shoving him again in front of the Planned Parenthood center. After falling, B.L. sustained injuries that need medical attention.
Ryan-Marie, Houck’s wife, claimed to LifeSiteNews that her husband was arrested by an FBI SWAT team at 7.05 a.m. on September 23, 2022. According to her, around 25 to 30 agents arrived at the home to take her husband into custody.
When Houck opened the door, Ryan-Marie says that the agents had “had big, huge rifles pointed at Mark and pointed at me and kind of pointed throughout the house.”
If found guilty, Houck faced a maximum possible sentence of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines of up to $350,000, according to federal prosecutors.
However, Houck was eventually acquitted of his charges under the FACE Act in January 2023, according to the Diocese of Scranton.
FBI Philadelphia previously said in a statement given to EWTN News that no SWAT teams or SWAT operators were dispatched to Houck’s house. Instead, FBI Philadelphia said that Houck was asked to exit the residence and was arrested without incident.
In his lawsuit, which was obtained by Fox News, Houck accused the DOJ of carrying out a “faulty investigation” and of using “excessive force.”
The Independent has contacted Planned Parenthood and FBI Philadelphia for comment.
