The WCLA, Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion, recently sent out this email blast about the upcoming democratic primary for Westchester District Attorney.
There are three candidates running for the office of Westchester County District Attorney in the Democratic Primary. Choice Matters interviewed each of them in depth and reviewed their individual questionnaires. Choice Matters has rated two of the candidates — William Wagstaff and Susan Cacace — 100% PRO-CHOICE. Choice Matters has rated the third candidate, Adeel Mirza, — ANTI-CHOICE.
Whereas Wagstaff and Cacace present diff erent visions for the office they are seeking, seeing their responsibilities and the people they would represent diff erently, there is no question that both candidates grasp the dramatic role the District Attorney’s offi ce will be called upon to play in this horrific time of every-increasing violence against providers, staff , patients and reproductive healthcare facilities.
The same cannot be said of Adeel Mirza who has demonstrated a callous indifference to, and serious lack of knowledge of federal, state and County legislation pertaining to the right to access comprehensive reproductive health care in New York and the securing of safe access. Further, Mirza has stated unequivocally that he would hire and appoint anti-choice assistant district attorneys (ADA) who could serve as prosecutors in clinic invasion cases, claiming they would be equally able to apply the law.
This level of ignorance is dangerous. Across the country we have witnessed DAs and ADAs enforcing laws as they saw fi t, winning and losing cases based on their own personal biases. Candidates running for office, particularly on the Democratic line, have learned the power of claiming to be pro-choice. But simply saying so does not make it true.
Look at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — or Jeannine Pirro or Virginia Perez or Robert Castelli, to name a few. All claimed to be pro-choice until they didn’t.
Mirza is no diff erent. His false claim plays a prominent role in his literature. While we may never know whether the sexual assault charges against him were true because he has chosen to settle the case just a few days ago, we do know that he is defi nitely not prochoice.
Please remember, just as you can’t be a little bit pregnant, you can’t be a little pro-choice. In this Democratic Primary, please vote for either William Wagstaff or Susan Cacace. Take the time to learn their positions on the responsibilities of the Westchester County District Attorney’s office.
**WCLA PAC is not endorsing in this race because neither of the candidates rated 100% Pro-Choice has a record of pro-choice accomplishments, yet.
