Pro-life activist Mark Houck wins $1M settlement from DOJ after FBI arrest
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The pro-life activist, whose arrest by the FBI under the Biden administration made national headlines in 2022, reached a seven-figure settlement after suing the Department of Justice over her arrest and prosecution.
In 2023, Mark Houck filed a lawsuit against the ministry, demanding compensation for what he called “defective investigation” and “excessive force”, after a SWAT team of approximately 25 people arrested him at his home in front of his children on September 23, 2022, for allegedly pulling a gun.
The shocking details of his arrest sparked criticism from conservatives that the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden was targeting pro-life activists.
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Pro-life activist Mark Houck (second from left) leaves federal court in Philadelphia after pleading not guilty to two charges related to an alleged assault of a companion outside an abortion clinic in 2021. (Fox News)
Steve Crampton, one of Houck’s attorneys at the Thomas More Society, told Fox News Digital that the outcome was long overdue and that they were pleased with the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure justice in the case.
“We are very pleased with a Department of Justice that is truly interested in the administration of justice,” Crampton said. “This is rare enough these days that we look forward to ensuring that Mark is not the only falsely accused defendant to receive some form of remuneration and recognition for the wrongs done to him.”
Crampton said the Trump administration should be praised for pro-life activists under the Biden administration “at least trying to acknowledge the wrongs that were made, if not completely right.”
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Houck was praying outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood clinic in 2021 when a Planned Parenthood volunteer allegedly molested her son. Houck was accused of pushing the volunteer during the encounter, and federal prosecutors charged him months later with allegedly violating the Freedom of Clinic Entry Act, or FACE Act.
Mark Houck was seen with his children. Houck was arrested by the FBI in 2022 for an altercation with a man outside a Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia. (Thomas More Society)
The law makes it a federal crime to use “the threat or use of force or physical obstruction that will injure, intimidate, or interfere with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.”
Houck was later acquitted Philadelphia juryHowever, if convicted, he could face up to 11 years in prison.
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Houck later sued the Department of Justice over the ordeal, accusing law enforcement personnel of conducting a “faulty investigation” against him and law enforcement using “excessive force” during the FBI raid on his family’s home.
Last year, Houck told Fox News Digital that an “activist judge” was blocking negotiations between Houck and the Trump-led Justice Department.
The legal settlement comes amid a Justice Department report released Tuesday that alleged the Biden administration had selectively prosecuted pro-life activists under the FACE Act following a review of more than 700,000 internal records.
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WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 07: Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche speaks at a press conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building on April 07, 2026 in Washington, DC. Blanche touched on the department’s anti-fraud efforts. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Justice Department officials said prosecutors coordinated with abortion rights groups to pursue activists, seek harsher sentences for pro-life defendants and in some cases withheld evidence or tried to exclude jurors because of religion.
The report found that officials under the Biden administration worked closely with groups such as Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority Foundation, which the department said helped compile information on pro-life activists used in investigations and prosecutions.
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“Biden Justice Department prosecutors knowingly withheld evidence that defense counsel intended to prepare an affirmative defense,” according to the report.
Deputy Attorney General of the Department of Justice, Todd Blanche, commented on the prosecutions and the Houck case in a statement to Fox News Digital: “This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered justice system. No Department should engage in selective prosecution based on beliefs. As we restore the integrity of our prosecutorial system, the shootings that occurred under the Biden Administration will not happen again.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Biden’s office for comment.
Fox News’ Peter Pinedo and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
