Anti-Abortion March Marks Catholic Rite

About 150 anti-abortion demonstrators joined in a march down Baker Street on Monday evening, marking the Catholic holy night of the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The demonstration has been held for 14 consecutive years.

Led by Bishop Michael Driscoll, the auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Orange, and several local members of the Knights of Columbus, the marchers carried candles and chanted along their six-block trip. As is customary, the march began at the intersection of Baker Street and Fairview Road at 7 p.m. and ended at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, where Mass was celebrated.

Driscoll said the Feast of the Holy Innocents is in honor of a group of children unjustly killed. He compared abortion to the deaths of children in Biblical history.

“We consider the death of all children to abortion to be an evil act of murder,” Driscoll said.

Not all of the marchers were Catholic, such as Costa Mesa Mayor Sandra L. Genis, who joined the demonstrators for the fourth year.

“If life is not precious, nothing else we do has any meaning to it,” Genis said.

Among the marchers was Patti McCracken of Irvine and her son, 9-month-old Brynn Joseph.

“Here’s the reason I’m against abortion right here,” McCracken said, motioning toward her son’s stroller. “I don’t believe in abortion, and I have a beautiful son because of that.”

Karen Kelly of Tustin said she was marching because “I am a single parent, and I had all kinds of people telling me how easy it would be to have an abortion. But you just have to be strong and not care what others think.”