FBI conducts armed raid on Pennsylvania pro-life activist Mark Houck's home
On September 23, 2022, FBI agents executed an arrest warrant at the suburban Philadelphia home of pro-life sidewalk counselor Mark Houck on FACE Act charges arising from a shoving incident at a Planned Parenthood. A federal jury acquitted him in January 2023.
FBI agents arrived at Mark Houck's Kintnersville, Pennsylvania home before dawn on September 23, 2022 to execute an arrest warrant on two counts under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The charges stemmed from an October 2021 incident outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood in which Houck pushed a 72-year-old volunteer escort who he said was harassing his son. Local prosecutors had already declined charges and a civil suit was dismissed. Houck's family described a heavily armed tactical entry; the DOJ said the FBI used standard practice. On January 30, 2023, a federal jury acquitted Houck on both FACE Act counts after roughly an hour of deliberation. The raid drew congressional scrutiny and became a touchstone for critics of federal enforcement priorities tied to protected pro-life expression.