Pro Choice Group Criticizes Nonna
A Westchester-based pro-choice group has come out against an unlikely target.
Choice Matters harshly criticized outgoing County Legislator John Nonna (D-Pleasantville) for recommitting a bill while in committee that would have provided women safe access to sites that perform abortions. Since the bill was recommitted, the Board of Legislators did not vote on it.
By re-committing the bill, the bill will not be passed this session and must go through committee next year to be considered.
“We don’t know that it will ever see the light of day again or whether we will have the number of votes we need to pass it,” Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, President of Choice Matters, said in a press release.
Choice Matters said Nonna has not returned the group’s calls to explain his decision, a charge that Nonna denies, saying that no one from Choice Matters has called him. Choice Matters did not respond to further requests for comment.
Nonna said the bill was recommitted because the caucus was evenly split, and there were problems with the language of the law.
“There were definitions that were unclear,” Nonna said. “There was no provision in the law prohibiting harassment. The definition was overboard.”
Nonna, who said he is pro-choice, said his decision had noting to do with his views on abortion, and said that the law was duplicative of state and federal law.
Choice Matters, which campaigns for candidates that advocate abortion rights, said Nonna and the legislators turned their back on the women of Westchester.
“This very important bill would have allowed women safe and private access to reproductive health care facilities and it would have protected First Amendment Rights,” Lederer-Plaskett said.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.