Last month, as Sarah covered, the FBI raided the home of Mark Houck, a pro-life activist to arrest him in front of his wife and seven children. He's been charged with and has pled not guilty to allegedly violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act when defending his son against a clinic escort that was harassing them. In response, Republican members of Congress are standing up against the unequal standard of justice and the political targeting of pro-lifers.
On Friday, Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Jacqueline C. Romero, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The letter not only demands answers about Houck's case, but what, if anything, Romero's office has done to investigate attacks on pro-life centers in her district.
#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMikeJohnson open inquiry into the dawn raid of the home of a pro-life leader, in front of his wife and seven children, and the enforcement of the FACE Act. pic.twitter.com/cGIYTrSyni
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 7, 2022
No charges had been filed against Houck for the incident that took place on October 13, 2021, outside of a Planned Parenthood facility, where Houck allegedly shoved an escort, until Romero's office stepped in, that is. Further, Houck had been willing to turn himself in and cooperate with authorities, but the FBI still raided his home.
As the letter mentions, "Houck’s attorney subsequently disclosed that the dawn raid was unnecessary because Houck had offered to appear voluntarily and the FBI targeted Houck 'solely to intimidate people of faith and prolife Americans.'"
Romero and her office did not appear to have acted when the HOPE Pregnancy Center in Philadelphia was vandalized with graffiti and had its windows smashed. As the letter lays out:
The Department’s treatment of Houck stands in stark contrast to its treatment of “potential acts of domestic violent extremism” against pro-life facilities. For example, on June 10, 2022, vandals smashed the windows and graffitied the walls of HOPE Pregnancy Center, a pro-life pregnancy center in your judicial district. There was no press release from your office regarding an investigation or charges in that case.
According to a list of incidents compiled by the Family Research Council (FRC), as of October 3, there have been 58 pro-life organizations and pregnancy resource centers targeted by pro-abortion extremists.
The letter charges that "Since the leak of the Dobbs opinion, however, the Department has almost exclusively enforced the FACE Act to protect anti-life activists while failing to prosecute harassment and intimidation of pro-life supporters." The letter later points out that "to our knowledge, the Department and FBI have not executed any SWAT team dawn raids to make arrests of anti-life activists."
In August, while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray had been unable to provide satisfactory answers when asked by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) about the arrest of pro-abortion activists for FACE Act violations.
Towards the closing, the letter also directly calls out the Biden administration. "The Department’s lackluster response to the attacks against pro-life facilities demonstrates that the Biden Administration would rather cater to the radical anti-life movement than help facilities that protect pregnant women in need," the congressmen write before asking questions.
Under control of the Democrats, countless congressional committees have held pro-abortion hearings. In July, there were five in seven days' time. One of them was a House Judiciary Committee hearing on "What's Next: The Threat to Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World," during which Ranking Member Jordan railed against Democratic hypocrisy for not giving such attention to attacks targeting pro-lifers.
In explaining so "that we can better understand why you have declined to evenly enforce federal law in your judicial district," the congressmen are requesting answers to the following questions by 5:00pm on October 21, 2022:
1. All documents and communications between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and other components of the Department of Justice referring or relating to enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act between May 2, 2022, and present;
2. All documents and communications between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Department of Justice, or the Executive Office of the President referring or relating to the Department’s Reproductive Rights Task Force;
3. All documents and communications between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Department of Justice referring or relating to investigations of attacks on pregnancy resource centers between May 2, 2022, and the present;
4. All documents and communications referring or relating to the attack on the HOPE Pregnancy Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that occurred on June 10, 2022; and
5. All documents and communications between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Federal Bureau of Investigation referring or relating to the arrest of Mark Houck.
"Furthermore, this letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials in your possession relating to the topics addressed in this letter," the letter also points out. "You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry."
Such a letter from Reps. Jordan and Johnson came as Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee also sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director Wray last week. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to Garland earlier last week as well.
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