Pro-life family harassed by FBI sues government for millions

A pro-life family raided by the FBI last year is now suing the Justice Department for millions after suffering infertility from the trauma.

Around 7:00 AM on a Friday in September last year, pro-life activist Mark Houck, his wife Ryan-Marie, and their seven children were visited by over 15 FBI agents. With their guns drawn, the agents pounded on the door and shouted for Houck to come out of the house. Houck tried telling the agents that they were scaring the children, but the agents continued shouting. 

“They had big, huge rifles pointed at Mark and pointed at me and kind of pointed throughout the house,” said Houck’s wife, Ryan-Marie. “The kids were all just screaming. It was all just very scary and traumatic,” she added. 

Houck was charged — and later acquitted — with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which makes it a felony “to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person produces reproductive health care.”

The allegation was based on an incident involving Houck in 2021. Houck was praying with his 12-year-old son in front of a Planned Parenthood facility when a Planned Parenthood “escort” —  someone who walks people to the clinic doors to protect them from “harassment” — allegedly began harassing Houck’s son. The two moved away from the building entrance, but the escort followed them and continued yelling at the child. At that point, Houck allegedly pushed him away. 

The escort pressed charges against Houck in 2021, which were ultimately dismissed by a federal court — but the Justice Department picked up the case anyway. 

Houck was acquitted in January but the family has continued to live with the trauma. According to a lawsuit recently filed by Houck and his wife, they have suffered three miscarriages since the raid and 40-year-old Ryan-Marie has been diagnosed with infertility.

“Mrs. Houck has also shouldered the emotional distress of caring for her seven children and their individual needs as they each process their own trauma from these events,” reads the complaint according to The Daily Signal. “The children continually come to her crying and suffering from nightmares. They slept in bed with her and her husband for the first month after the arrest, and they continue to ask to sleep in their parents’ bed. The children are easily triggered whenever the situation is brought up or unannounced guests arrive at the property, and she spends a significant amount of time counseling and comforting them.”

The Houcks are suing the Justice Department for malicious and retaliatory prosecution, abuse of process, false arrest, and assault and are seeking $4.35 million in damages.