Anaheim : Anti-Abortionists Picket Martin Luther Hospital
About 100 people demonstrated Saturday in front of Martin Luther Hospital Medical Center as part of a nationwide protest against abortions performed in medical institutions.
The fundamentalist Christian and Catholic demonstrators peacefully carried signs denouncing the hospital’s abortion policy, said Janet Larson, regional director of the Christian Action Council.
The council was one of 300 regional groups involved in demonstrations across the United States on Saturday, participating in “Voices for the Voiceless: The Pastors’ Protest Against Abortion,” Larson said.
“Pastors are coming to the forefront to try to change the policy within hospitals,” she said. “Until now, they have not been as vocal as they could be.
“We are concerned that a hospital whose basic premise is from a Christian viewpoint is allowing abortions,” she said.
Betty Bartley, a spokeswoman for the medical center, said that while the hospital was founded by a Lutheran minister and now has a pastoral care department representing several denominations, it is not a religious institution and does not place restrictions on the physicians who practice there.
“But we are certainly sensitive to Christians and others,” Bartley said. “We try to meet the needs of our staff and patients.”
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