California IN BRIEF : SAN BERNARDINO : 41 Anti-Abortionists Arrested at Clinic

Forty-one anti-abortion protesters were arrested as about 250 people representing both sides of the abortion debate converged on a San Bernardino women’s clinic, police said. Ray Showalter, a spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department, said the arrests came after demonstrators blocked the doorways to a Family Planning Associates Clinic. Police cleared one entrance for staff and clients. Coleen Crow, a spokeswoman for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, called the protest a “Mother’s Day rescue.” Abortion rights activists, waging a counterdemonstration, turned out in numbers that roughly equaled the anti-abortion forces, police said. Protesters from both sides arrived about 7 a.m. and arrests began about 10:30 a.m. Most of the arrested were cited for trespassing, a misdemeanor, and released, police said.