US Politics

Missouri senator sends letter to Garland demanding answers on Houck pro-life arrest

FILE: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of the Air Force in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2023 and the Future Years Defense Program, in Dirksen Building on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. 

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Monday sent Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter demanding answers on “shocking reports” about the FBI arresting a Catholic pro-life activist at his home in rural Pennsylvania last Friday. 

FBI agents arrest Mark Houck in Kintnersville Friday for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care. 

The arrest stemmed from an alleged altercation Houck had with a Planned Parenthood escort in Philadelphia in October 2021. Houck is accused of pushing a 72-year-old man after the escort allegedly verbally harassed Houck’s 12-year-old son outside the clinic.  

Houck has maintained that he was trying to defend his son, and authorities have already dismissed a separate complaint against him for the same conduct. 

WHAT IS THE FACE ACT AT THE CENTER OF PENNSYLVANIA PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST ASSAULT CASE? 

In his letter to Garland, Hawley accused the Attorney General of turning a “local dispute into a national case” and criticized the FBI for executing the search warrant in “extreme a manner as one can imagine.” 

Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie, told Catholic News Agency that a “SWAT team of about 25 came to my house with about 15 vehicles and started pounding on our door.”  

FILE: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Department of the Air Force in review of the Defense Authorization Request for FY2023 and the Future Years Defense Program, in Dirksen Building on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. 
(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The FBI has refuted her claims, saying that no SWAT Team or SWAT operators were involved in the arrest. 

“FBI agents knocked on Mr. Houck’s front door, identified themselves as FBI agents, and asked him to exit the residence,” FBI agents told Fox News in a statement. “He did so and was taken into custody without incident pursuant to an indictment.” 

A senior FBI source told Fox News there may have been 15-20 agents at the scene, but denied 25 were there. The agents who came to the door had guns out and at the ready, according to this FBI source, but the guns were never…

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