Mark Houck Secures Over $1 Million DOJ Settlement

Mark Houck, a Pennsylvania-based pro-life activist and father of seven, has secured a settlement exceeding $1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice following his 2022 arrest on charges related to an encounter outside an abortion clinic in Philadelphia.

The agreement, announced this week by the pro-life group 40 Days for Life, which represented Houck, resolves a lawsuit filed by Houck and his wife in November 2023. It stems from an October 2021 incident in which Houck and his 12-year-old son were praying outside a Planned Parenthood facility at 12th and Locust streets. According to court documents and accounts from Houck's legal team, a 72-year-old clinic escort verbally confronted the boy, prompting Houck to push the escort away. The escort fell but sustained no serious injuries and did not require medical attention, supporters said. Federal prosecutors, however, charged Houck with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits using force or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health services. If convicted, Houck faced up to 11 years in prison and fines of $350,000.

On September 23, 2022, FBI agents executed an...