For Immediate Release: September 26, 2022
Contact: Ryan Hite, Communications Director
Washington, D.C.: “The corrupt FBI has shown their hand again, this time in rounding up a well-known pro-life author and counselor and dragging him from his home at gunpoint,” said Ed Martin, president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles. “The DOJ and its tentacled alphabet agencies are quickly and justifiably gaining the reputation of Biden’s politically weaponized police force. This latest high-profile raid is an assault not only on pro-life activism but the Constitution itself.”
Mark Houck is a prolific author, activist, and counselor for Christian virtues. He’s the founder and president of The King’s Men, a values-based group throughout the U.S. and Europe that promotes healing and recovery for victims of pornography addiction. The 48-year-old was swarmed on rural Pennsylvania property by more than two dozen armed SWAT agents. He was dragged from the house at gunpoint while his wife was handed the first page of a warrant for his arrest.
“What did this man do to deserve such awful treatment, you ask?” Martin continued. “During one of his weekly sidewalk counseling sessions at a Philadelphia abortion clinic, he allegedly shoved a threatening pro-abortion activist away from his 12-year-old son while the man hurled obscenities at the pair. The unharmed man tried to sue Houck, but his suit was thrown out of District Court this summer.
“Never letting a conservative go unpunished, however, the Biden DOJ picked up the case and decided to charge Houck with violation of the federal FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act! During the raid itself, the FBI agents were reluctant even then to provide a warrant, supposedly telling Houck’s wife that they were taking him with or without one. Thanks to her cool-headed persistence, they provided the bare minimum at last.”
Martin concluded, “This is absolutely disgusting conduct from a federal agency. The charges themselves appear to be horsefeathers, let alone the atrocious conduct of the agents on the ground. Truly the FBI gives the appearance of Big Government’s secret police force. We cannot allow them to swoop in and essentially kidnap Americans for political crimes against the state. This tyrannical rule is the stuff of dictatorships — not America! There must be an outcry from Congress, from other agencies, from the state of Pennsylvania, and from citizens across this nation. We are in very dangerous and scary times, and we cannot give an ounce of leeway to this blatant dictatorial abuse of federal power.”
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