The FACE Act Shouldn’t Be Used to Intimidate Pro-Life Advocates
As a devout Catholic, Mark Houck believes every human life is precious, created by God, and worthy of protection. It was this belief that led him to often pray with his 12-year-old son outside a Philadelphia abortion facility.
In October 2021, a Planned Parenthood escort repeatedly got in the face of Houck and his son while making vulgar comments toward them, witnesses said. Houck allegedly responded by pushing the abortion escort in an effort to protect his son. While state and local authorities found no cause to prosecute Houck over the incident, the Department of Justice felt differently.
When Houck learned that he may be prosecuted, he offered to turn himself in if he were indicted for any crimes. Instead, his attorney said, the FBI sent “twenty heavily armed federal agents” to Houck’s house in the early morning hours, pointed at least five guns at him, his wife, and his children, and then arrested him. The FBI later attempted to quell concerns about the report by claiming it was an “overstatement” and that the tactics used were “in line with standard practices.”
A federal jury took less than three hours to find Houck not guilty of the charges brought against him. Unfortunately, many pro-life advocates prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act haven’t received such good news.
What is the FACE Act?
The FACE Act was passed by Congress in 1994 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It prohibits Americans from interfering with access to so-called “reproductive health services,” which include abortion facilities and pregnancy centers.
While the DOJ claims “[t]he FACE Act is not about abortions,” enforcement of the act has been remarkably one-sided against pro-life advocates.
Unequal prosecution of FACE Act violations
Soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the Biden administration began a campaign to promote abortion nationwide. On top of attempting to force pro-life pharmacies to dispense abortion drugs and trying to twist federal law to override state law and mandate emergency room abortions, this push has included aggressively prosecuting pro-life protesters using the FACE Act.
Under the FACE Act, first-time offenders face a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail and a $15,000 fine, while repeat offenders face up to three years of jail time and $25,000 in fines. But those punishments apparently were not enough for the Biden administration.
According to WORLD, around the same time as the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the administration began pairing charges of FACE Act violations with charges of “conspiracy against rights” for obstructing the right to so-called “reproductive health services.” The felony conspiracy charges carry much steeper penalties, including prison sentences of up to 10 years.
In March 2021, Paul Vaughn and a few other pro-life advocates preached and sang hymns at an abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, while some of them blocked the door. Almost a year and a half later, armed FBI agents showed up on Vaughn’s doorstep and arrested him in front of his 11 children.
Vaughn and five other pro-life advocates were convicted of both a FACE Act violation and a felony count of conspiracy against rights. Vaughn was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and his fellow advocates could each face maximum sentences of 10 and a half years in prison and fines as high as $260,000.
This punishment far outweighs the crime. Unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident.
The DOJ unsealed three indictments between March 2022 and February 2023 in which it charged pro-life advocates with conspiracy against rights over what appeared to be standard FACE Act violations.
Overall, the DOJ brought at least 26 charges against pro-life individuals under the FACE Act in 2022. What were the total number of charges against abortion activists who obstructed or vandalized pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the Dobbs decision that year? Zero.
Government officials cannot unequally apply the law
The DOJ cannot unequally apply federal laws to silence or intimidate those with views that oppose the administration’s. By targeting pro-life advocates with unnecessarily harsh penalties, the Biden administration is abusing its power and politicizing the FACE Act against those who oppose abortion.
In response, pro-life politicians and other advocates are taking action against this unequal treatment. In October 2023, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas even introduced legislation to repeal the FACE Act.
“The Biden DOJ has weaponized this constitutionally suspect law against pro-life sidewalk counselors while failing to protect pregnancy centers and churches from violent attacks,” Sen. Lee said in a statement. While the legislation has not passed, it signals a growing distaste for the FACE Act among some lawmakers.
In addition, Mark Houck filed a lawsuit in May 2024 asking a federal district court to hold the DOJ accountable and award damages for an unjust prosecution. In the suit, Houck’s attorneys said his arrest by armed FBI agents at his home was “a shocking display of the political animus against the pro-life movement harbored at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.”
The Biden administration cannot unequally apply the law against pro-life advocates simply because of their beliefs, and many of them are taking steps toward holding the administration accountable.
