ANAHEIM : Anti-Abortion Rally Targets Pastor’s Role

About 50 anti-abortion activists demonstrated Sunday outside the First Presbyterian Church of Anaheim to protest the church pastor’s association with Planned Parenthood.

The demonstration, which was organized by the group Operation Rescue, started about 10 a.m. and continued for about an hour and a half. Police officers outnumbered the protesters, who marched in front of the church carrying anti-abortion placards.

No arrests were made.

A spokesman for the protesters said the group opposes the pastor’s link with Planned Parenthood because the nonprofit organization provides abortion services.

The pastor, the Rev. Stephen Mather, is president of board of directors for Planned Parenthood.

“Opponents of my role with Planned Parenthood are attempting to intimidate me by demonstrating not at a clinic but with the people I serve,” Mather said Sunday. “The church has been supportive of my involvement with an organization that is committed to the basic American freedoms of people making important choices in their lives as their conscience leads them.”

Mather added that his position with Planned Parenthood is voluntary and that he supports the organization because it promotes sexual responsibility through education, is the largest cancer-screening organization in the country and provides prenatal care to hundreds of women locally.