OPINION:
“Pro-life activist arrested during FBI raid at Pennsylvania home” (Web, Sept. 25) describes the Gestapo-like raid on the home of Mark Houck. The FBI agents surrounded the home with rifles “in firing position aimed” at Mr. and Mrs. Houck, while their seven children screamed at what was happening to their parents. The FBI arrested Houck “on charges he assaulted an abortion clinic volunteer in Philadelphia.”
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, in a letter to Sen. Grassley titled “FBI Duplicity Demands A Probe,” wrote: “Houck says he shoved a man who had been harassing his 12-year-old son in front of the clinic during one of his sidewalk counseling sessions. The charges were reportedly dismissed by the District Court in Philadelphia.”
Donohue criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland for the FBI’s overreaction to the Houck issue while seemingly ignoring the many extremely violent instances against pro-life pregnancy centers and Catholic churches. These attacks make shoving someone look like child’s play. As Donohue wrote, “This kind of overreaction for a minor infraction of the law is deeply troubling, and it becomes even more troubling when paired with the under reaction by the Department of Justice when the pro-life side is targeted.”
JOHN NAUGHTON
Silver Spring, Maryland
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