The wife of a pro-life activist said at least two-dozen armed FBI agents with President Joe Biden's DOJ showed up to her home and carted her husband carted off over the weekend, supposedly over a minor altercation he’d had with an abortion supporter outside a “reproductive clinic” last year.
According to a Fox News report, Mark Houck, a pro-life activist who founded a Catholic men's mentorship group called The King’s Men, was arrested in front of his seven children by FBI agents who showed up at his home and demanded he come with them.
Houck's wife, Ryan-Marie, told the Catholic News Agency that the arrest stemmed from a dust-up he’d had back in October of 2021 with an abortion supporter who’d been escorting patients to and from the Planned Parenthood Elizabeth Black Health Center in Philadelphia, where Houck prayed and preached every Wednesday. According to Ryan-Marie, her husband had shoved the 72-year-old man after he’d gotten in the face of Houck’s 12-year-old son while shouting obscenities.
Houck’s wife added that the man tried to sue, but that the case was thrown out by the District Court in Philadelphia – only to be picked up by the Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ, Houck violated 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 is a provider of reproductive health care,” Fox News explains.
"Put simply, violence is never the answer," said Jacqueline Maguire, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division. "Violating the FACE Act by committing a physical assault is a serious crime for which the FBI will work to hold offenders accountable."
So serious, in fact, that the agency felt it necessary to send a cadre of armed agents to Houck's door.
Ryan-Marie Houck claimed that a "SWAT team of about 25 came to my house with about 15 vehicles and started pounding on our door."
"They said they were going to break in if he didn't open it. And then they had about five guns pointed at my husband, myself and basically at my kids," she added, saying that her husband promised to go peacefully while trying to explain to the agents that he had seven children inside.
"The kids were all just screaming. It was all just very scary and traumatic,” she said.
Related: Lefty 'Reporter' to Pro-Lifers: Stop Whining About Pregnancy Clinics Being Bombed
The FBI disputed at least one minor detail of that story, saying in a statement that “No SWAT Team or SWAT operators were involved.”
“FBI agents knocked on Mr. Houck's front door, identified themselves as FBI agents and asked him to exit the residence. He did so and was taken into custody without incident pursuant to an indictment,” the FBI added.
Interestingly, the agency didn’t dispute Ryan-Marie’s claims that the incident involved more than two-dozen agents, some with their guns drawn on a house full of kids. Which, if true, probably would have looked a lot like a SWAT team.
U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero defended the arrest and whatever use of force came along with it.
"Assault is always a serious offense, and under the FACE Act, if the victim is targeted because of their association with a reproductive healthcare clinic, it is a federal crime," Romero said. "Our Office and the Department of Justice are committed to prosecuting crimes which threaten the safety and rights of all individuals."
Notably, this is the same FBI that can’t seem to get to the bottom of dozens of attacks on pro-life pregnancy clinics across the country, many of which have been vandalized, firebombed, spray-painted, smashed in, or outright burned to the ground.
But apparently, if you shove a dude who’s threatening your kid, you can count on getting a knock at your door and, if Houck’s wife is to be believed, more than a few guns pointed at your face.