Government continues to punish pro-life Americans

A peaceful protest in Ohio

On June 4, 2021, the defendants protested in front of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s Bedford Heights Surgery Center (BHSC) and Northeast Ohio Women’s Center (NOWC). The demonstrators sat, laid down, and kneeled in front of walkways and entrances. They pleaded with women entering the abortion facilities to reconsider their visits.

The protestors included Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Audrey Whipple, Lauren Handy, Monica Miller, Jay Smith, and Laura Gies. They were arrested by police and charged with trespassing.

The FACE Act makes protesting at abortion centers a federal crime

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought a lawsuit against the seven taxpayers and their organizations, Red Rose Rescue and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. The complaint accuses the defendants of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a felony “to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care.”

If found guilty, each defendant may be fined $20,516 for initial violations of the FACE Act and up to $30,868 for each violation thereafter. The DOJ is also requesting that the defendants be forced to pay up to $5,000 in damages to any “victims.”

Pro-life taxpayer sentenced to nearly five years in prison

The lawsuit comes the week after Lauren Handy, one of the defendants, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and three years supervised release for violating the FACE Act when she protested at a Washington, DC abortion center in 2020.

Pro-lifer raided, threatened with 11 years in prison

This week, pro-life father of seven Mark Houck filed a complaint against the DOJ after the FBI raided him and his family for violating the FACE Act.

The allegation was based on an incident in 2021. Houck was praying with his 12-year-old son in front of a Planned Parenthood branch when a Planned Parenthood “escort” —  someone who walks people to the clinic doors to protect them from “harassment” — allegedly began harassing Houck’s son. The two moved away from the entrance to the building, but the escort followed them and continued yelling at the child. At that point, Houck allegedly pushed him away.

The escort pressed charges against Houck in 2021, which were ultimately dismissed by a federal court — but the Justice Department picked up the case anyway. The DOJ accused Houck of violating the FACE Act, for which he faced 11 years in prison.

Around 7:00 AM on a Friday in September 2022, Houck, his wife Ryan-Marie, and their seven children were visited by over 15 FBI agents. With their guns drawn, the agents pounded on the door and shouted for Houck to come out of the house. Houck tried telling the agents that they were scaring the children, but the agents continued shouting.

“They had big, huge rifles pointed at Mark and pointed at me and kind of pointed throughout the house,” said Ryan-Marie. “The kids were all just screaming. It was all just very scary and traumatic,” she added.

Houck was acquitted in January last year but the family has continued to live with the trauma. According to a lawsuit filed by Huck and his wife, they have suffered three miscarriages since the raid and 40-year-old Ryan-Marie has been diagnosed with infertility.

The family is suing the DOJ for malicious and retaliatory prosecution, abuse of process, false arrest, and assault.

“Mrs. Houck has also shouldered the emotional distress of caring for her seven children and their individual needs as they each process their own trauma from these events,” reads the complaint according to The Daily Signal. “The children continually come to her crying and suffering from nightmares. They slept in bed with her and her husband for the first month after the arrest, and they continue to ask to sleep in their parents’ bed. The children are easily triggered whenever the situation is brought up or unannounced guests arrive at the property, and she spends a significant amount of time counseling and comforting them.”