A group of congressional Republicans led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is urging colleagues to defund efforts by the Department of Justice to prosecute possible violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
In a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX), Roy and 11 other Republicans said the Biden administration could not be trusted to "faithfully implement and enforce the FACE Act," which prohibits obstructing the entrance to abortion clinics and crisis pregnancy centers.
CHIP ROY SEEKS REPEAL OF LAW LIMITING ABORTION CLINIC PROTESTS AFTER HOUCK ACQUITTAL
The letter's co-signers included Reps. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), and Daniel Webster (R-FL). The letter asks the Appropriations Committee to include language in its appropriations bill that says the Department of Justice cannot use its funding to enforce the FACE Act.
"The Biden Administration has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted to faithfully implement and enforce the FACE Act, as written by Congress," the letter says. "Until such a time, Congress ought to withhold the use of funds for enforcing this law and seriously consider repealing the statute in its entirety."
The group specifically pointed to the case of Mark Houck, a Pennsylvania father and anti-abortion rights activist who was prosecuted by the Department of Justice in September for pushing Bruce Love, an abortion clinic volunteer who was allegedly verbally harassing his son. The indictment claimed the Catholic father and activist had attacked Love in a bid to interfere with the abortion clinic's work, which Houck denied.
In January, a federal jury acquitted Houck of the charges, fueling criticisms that the prosecution was politically motivated. Days after the jury verdict was announced, Roy announced he would seek to repeal the FACE Act, saying it had been "eminently abused" and is a "clearly weaponized federal usurpation of state police powers."
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"Last September, the American people watched in horror as dozens of heavily armed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and more than a dozen vehicles conducted an early-morning raid, with guns drawn, on the home of Mark Houck, his wife, and seven children," the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Granger. "Since then, Mark Houck has been found innocent of all charges, but Attorney General Merrick Garland has refused to admit that the overwhelming use of force against an innocent American citizen was a mistake."
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.