U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (Republican from Texas) is one of a group of House Republicans asking colleagues to defund Department of Justice’s efforts to prosecute possible violations of 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. This law makes physical obstruction of abortion facilities a federal offense as well as threats of violence against clinic workers.

Roy and 11 other House Republicans sent a letter to Kay Granger (R-Texas), stating that the Biden administration couldn’t be trusted to “faithfully execute and enforce the FACE Act”, The Washington Examiner reported.

The letter stated that “The Biden Administration has proved time and again that it can’t be trusted to faithfully apply and enforce the FACE Act as written by Congress.” “Until then, Congress should withhold funds from being used to enforce this law and seriously contemplate repealing it in its entirety.”

After the violence at abortion clinics escalated, President Bill Clinton signed the FACE Act. This was in response to the March 1993 murder of an abortionist in Pensacola (Florida).

The legislators cited Mark Houck, a father of seven from Pennsylvania and an anti-abortion activist, who was indicted by the DOJ for pushing Bruce Love (an abortion clinic volunteer) who had verbally harassed his son. Houck was accused of attacking Love in an attempt to disrupt the work of the clinic. Houck refuted this accusation. Houck was not found guilty by federal court in January. He claimed that he planned to sue the FBI, and other authorities for his experience.

The lawmakers stated that “Last September, Americans watched in horror as Mark Houck’s home was raided by dozens of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and more then a dozen vehicles, guns drawn,”. “Mark Houck has been acquitted of all charges. Attorney General Merrick Garland, however, has refused to admit that the use of overwhelming force against an innocent American citizen was wrong.”