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Fundraiser For DOJ-Targeted Pro-Life Activist Mark Houck Hits New Milestone

More than 4,000 donations have been offered to Houck and his family, totaling $251,810 by Tuesday afternoon.

   DailyWire.com
GiveSendGo//Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image

Donations have surpassed a quarter of a million dollars for Mark Houck, a pro-life activist and Catholic father of seven who was arrested by at least 20 armed FBI agents at his Pennsylvania home early Friday morning.

The Department of Justice is targeting Houck, who leads a nonprofit group that provides sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics in Philadelphia, over an incident last year involving his then-12-year-old son at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility, the family says.

More than 4,000 donations have been offered to Houck and his family, totaling $251,810 by Tuesday afternoon.

GiveSendGo, an alternative to GoFundMe, allows users to submit prayers, too. So far, more than 3,500 prayers have been offered to the family.

Pennsylvania pro-life activist Ashley Garecht and her husband Joe Garecht created the crowdfunding page. Notably, the couple’s daughters in 2019, then just 13 and 15 years old, were harassed by then-state Rep. Brian Sims (D) for several minutes as they prayed for unborn children outside a Pennsylvania abortion clinic. 

Garecht told The Daily Wire over the weekend that Houck was protecting his son from an aggressive Planned Parenthood escort harassing the boy. She said the case was dismissed by a federal court in Philadelphia when the escort tried to press charges, but Biden’s DOJ picked it up anyway.

“Last year, Mark and his son were praying in front of the [Planned Parenthood] at 12th and Locust,” the GiveSendGo account says. “When one of the escorts began harassing Mark’s son they walked down the street away from the entrance to the building. The escort followed them, and when he continued yelling at Mark’s son, Mark pushed him away.”

“It’s all on video,” the post continues. “But that hasn’t stopped Planned Parenthood and the Biden Administration. With no prior warning, and in spite of the fact that Mark is represented by an attorney, Biden’s Justice Department sent a fully armed SWAT team into a home full of young children at daybreak, to arrest a father for protecting his son.”

The fundraiser adds, “We will not back down, we will not stop fighting to protect the lives of Pennsylvania’s unborn children, and we WILL NOT TOLERATE the harassment of our leaders by a corrupt and politicized justice system.”

The Garechts say the funds raised through the campaign “will go to help the family with any necessary expenses.”

“Your generosity is greatly appreciated,” the couple adds. “Let’s show the Houck family they are not alone, while we show Planned Parenthood and its militant pro-abortion allies that the pro-life community will not be silenced by fear and intimidation.”

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said Friday that Houck was charged by indictment with violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for allegedly assaulting a person who provides abortion-related services.

The Catholic father is facing up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000, according to Fox News.

Related: ‘You Must Testify, Under Oath’: Hawley Demands Answers, Rips Merrick Garland For Targeting Of Pro-Life Activist

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