Houck’s enduring persecution and his resilience is a model for pro-life men who can learn from him how to persevere in the fight for the sanctity of human life.

The Catholic father and husband has dedicated countless hours to defending pre-born babies from abortion. He drove two hours each way once a week to sidewalk counsel outside of abortion facilities and encourage mothers and fathers to choose life.

It seems safe to assume given the number of children he has and the organization he runs, which works to combat the pornography industry and help men grow in their spiritual journey, that Houck does not have a lot of free time. Yet he gives up eight hours in the middle of the week to try to change hearts and minds and save lives.

Furthermore, he modeled for his children Christian values; the trumped-up federal charge comes from an incident in which an aggressive Planned Parenthood volunteer kept harassing Mark and his son. He calmly told the man to back off, according to court testimony, before ultimately defending himself in an appropriate manner. He did the right thing and defended his family from the aggressive, vulgar man.

[And in the end, a jury of his peers vindicated Houck. It does not always work out that way, but we can celebrate that this time, it did. — Ed]