DOJ paid more than $1 million in settlement to anti-abortion protester — after a federal judge tossed his suit
The Trump Department of Justice paid a $1.1 million settlement to an anti-abortion protester, even after a George W. Bush-appointed judge dismissed with prejudice his lawsuit against the government, according to a former department prosecutor and the protester’s lawyer.
Two former federal government officials who spoke to MS NOW characterized the settlement paid to Mark Houck, a longtime anti-abortion activist, as the latest example of the Trump DOJ making concessions to previously prosecuted abortion opponents under the guise of protecting their religious freedom.
Houck is a 52-year-old Pennsylvania resident and the founder of the King’s Men, which describes itself as a donation-based anti-pornography and anti-abortion Catholic meeting group for men. He unsuccessfully ran as a Republican in 2024 to represent Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.
Mark Houck speaks to a meeting of Republicans on April 17, 2024, in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Mike Catalini / AP Photo
Following Houck’s September 2022 arrest for allegedly shoving a 72-year-old clinic escort at a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood — he was later acquitted of those charges at trial — his case became a rallying cry for the GOP and abortion rights opponents, who argued that he was targeted by overzealous prosecutors in Biden’s Justice Department for his religious beliefs.
Houck’s case is discussed in an 800-plus-page report the Justice Department released on Tuesday that purports to expose “the Biden administration’s weaponization” of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits obstructing access to reproductive health clinics. The report frames Houck’s case as an example of the DOJ under former President Joe Biden using “aggressive tactics” against an abortion opponent, and says some supervisors did not think the FACE Act was a proper charge for the circumstances. MS NOW first reported on the existence of the Justice Department’s report last week, after reviewing a draft copy.
The report says the government “recently reached a settlement agreement with Houck” but does not provide further details or specify the amount. The report also does not mention that a federal judge dismissed Houck’s lawsuit against the government or that it was pending appeal at the time of the settlement.
Houck’s lawyer, Edward Greim, told CBS News the DOJ agreed to the $1.1 million settlement in February, prior to Houck’s move to withdraw the appeal. Houck declined an interview request from MS NOW and Greim did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Abortion opponents celebrated news of the settlement, while two former federal officials characterized it to MS NOW as yet another example of the Trump administration kowtowing to abortion opponents whom the Biden administration prosecuted under the FACE Act. The Trump administration has alleged that the FACE Act has historically been weaponized against abortion opponents and has pledged to roll back those prosecutions — even as prosecutors employ a lesser-used provision of the law to try to prosecute former CNN journalist Don Lemon and protesters for entering a church in Minneapolis.
A former DOJ prosecutor with knowledge of Houck’s case told MS NOW they see the settlement as “rewarding a MAGA supporter,” and a former federal law enforcement official called it “concerning” given that Houck’s prior lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that supports abortion rights, said in a statement that Houck’s settlement “should embarrass every person who touched it,” adding that it “represents an abuse of the rule of law.”
In response to questions, a Justice Department spokesperson referred MS NOW to a statement from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that Trump’s DOJ “will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice.”
“No Department should conduct selective prosecution based on beliefs,” Blanche added. “The weaponization that happened under the Biden Administration will not happen again, as we restore integrity to our prosecutorial system.”
Houck was indicted in September 2022 on charges of violating the FACE Act for allegedly assaulting a volunteer escort at a Planned Parenthood in October 2021. According to the government’s indictment, Houck twice shoved the escort to the ground, once while the escort was accompanying two patients leaving the clinic.
Houck’s attorneys denied the government’s account, alleging that the incident occurred outside an anti-abortion pregnancy resource center across the street from a Planned Parenthood, and arguing that the Justice Department was engaging in “viewpoint discrimination” by seeking to prosecute Houck for his anti-abortion beliefs. They also argued that the escort — not Houck — was the aggressor, and that Houck only shoved the escort after the escort “approached and verbally confronted” Houck and his 12-year-old son.
Houck was acquitted of the charges at a five-day jury trial in January 2023. Less than a year later, Houck filed a civil lawsuit alleging “a faulty and malicious investigation” and excessive force against the federal government and Pennsylvania state and local police officers involved in his September 2022 arrest, when armed federal and state police arrested him at his home while his wife and seven children were present.
Houck with his wife alleged in the lawsuit that the stress of the arrest led to three miscarriages for the couple and ultimately an infertility diagnosis, along with emotional distress for their children.
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A former federal law enforcement official told MS NOW that Houck’s arrest “was appropriate and done in accordance with FBI procedures.”
Last March, Judge Paul Diamond of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered Houck’s suit dismissed with prejudice — meaning it cannot be refiled — alleging that he had failed to state a plausible claim.
Diamond wrote in his 20-page order that Houck’s complaint “generates considerably more heat than light,” adding that his “indignation is not a substitute for plausibility, however.”
Houck subsequently filed a notice of appeal, before moving to withdraw it in February, records show.
The former DOJ prosecutor, who handled multiple FACE Act cases, told MS NOW they believe the account of Houck’s case included in the newly released “weaponization” report “was not representative of the government, it was representative of the defense.” The source added that the prosecutors involved in Houck’s case were not consulted as the report was prepared, and that at least one of the three prosecutors received an order from Blanche earlier this year to hand over records related to the case. The former DOJ prosecutor said that request seemed “out of the ordinary, because the civil case had been dismissed.”
“I couldn’t believe this was still being batted around,” they added.
The source also said Sanjay Patel — who prosecuted many FACE Act cases against people later pardoned by President Donald Trump — was told as he was being escorted from the building last month to be placed on administrative leave that he was the reason Houck received the settlement.
Patel was one of four prosecutors fired on Monday in preparation of the release of the “weaponization report,” MS NOW reported. He has not responded to repeated requests for comment from MS NOW.
The former DOJ prosecutor told MS NOW they disagree with the allegations of the “weaponization” report that Houck, and other abortion opponents, were targeted due to their beliefs. The prosecutor added that they are Catholic and that their own beliefs “never factored into my prosecutorial activities.”
“In any case that I’ve handled,” the source said, “I evaluate the facts of the case based on the law.”
Carol Leonnig contributed to this reporting
Julianne McShane
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
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