Last week, thousands from across the country gathered in the Nation’s capital to march for the sanctity of life. It’s been a storied tradition for decades as every year, pro-life Americans make their voices heard in front of our federal lawmakers.
It’s undeniable that the more we have marched, the more we have won. Especially in recent years, as major victories have been put on the board for the pro-life movement, most notably, the downfall of Roe v. Wade. But these wins have come at a significant cost, as we are now under the gun of the most anti-life administration in American history.
In his continued mockery of our justice system, President Biden has turned the levers of government against pro-life advocates throughout America. And it’s essentially a two-front war. On the one hand, his weaponized Department of Justice (DOJ) openly targets those who value the sanctity of life, many of whom are marching in Washington today. At the same time, the Biden DOJ turns a blind eye to the extraordinary assault on crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life individuals in the wake of the Dobbs decision.
The treatment of Mark Houck stands out in particular.
Just a year and a half ago, the pro-life father of seven was arrested in an FBI raid of his home. For the crime of standing outside an abortion clinic and defending his son, who was defamed by a clinic escort, the FBI showed up with a 25-person SWAT team, with guns drawn on him. He was then put into the back of a car in front of his wife and kids.
It was the kind of treatment you’d expect to see for a terrorist threat. Maybe that was the message the Biden Administration wanted to send to all pro-lifers. But Biden’s DOJ didn’t stop there. They then dragged Houck to court, where an 11-year prison sentence was on the line for allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
So ridiculous was this case that it took a Pennsylvania jury just about an hour to declare the pro-life activist “not guilty.” But this whole ordeal was not an outlier for how the Biden Administration. Instead, it symbolized how the pro-life movement would be treated.
While the DOJ prosecuted dozens of other pro-life activists in multiple states on FACE Act charges in the last few years, it conveniently failed to treat the nearly 200 attacks on pro-life individuals and institutions recently with the same force. Since the leak of the Supreme Court draft decision, abortion activists have ramped up attacks on pregnancy crisis centers throughout America. Where was Biden’s DOJ to protect them? Nowhere to be found.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has prioritized the targeting of anyone with pro-life views, just as he did with concerned parents at school board meetings. Meanwhile, far more extreme crimes have been committed by pro-abortion activists, and Biden’s DOJ might as well have given them a free pass to do it.
The message sent is clear: Attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers are legal, but protesting near an abortion clinic, as Mark Houck did, is not.
This double standard of justice was showcased after the infamous Dobbs decision leak in May 2022. Once it was public, a rash of violence broke out throughout the country. Many of these protests showed up near the homes of Supreme Court Justices. One man was even caught near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home in an attempt to assassinate him. He’s currently on a slow-walked trial and still hasn’t received punishment, something Biden’s opponents in court would never be granted. And as for the “leaker,” that individual conveniently couldn’t be found.
Following the release of the Dobbs opinion a month later, the violence against pro-lifers only gained momentum. More than 50 U.S. pregnancy clinics reported graffiti and damage, in some cases amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in repairs. This includes six clinics that were destroyed by being set on fire.
The Biden Administration has largely ignored these attacks. The same cannot be said for those who hold pro-life views, no matter how trivial and non-aggressive they may be.
As we continue to march, our message to President Biden is that we are not going anywhere. Every human life is sacred and worth fighting for. And we’re not sorry that protecting the unborn is offensive to you. But this year, we are sending another message to Washington: Protect the pro-life movement from Biden’s perverse weaponized justice system. Because as it stands, pro-life Americans are no longer just marching for the rights of the unborn but their own as well.
Ashley Hayek is the Executive Director of America First Works and former Trump 2020 Campaign Coalitions Director.
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