Statement from Contra Costa D.A. Diana Becton on reproductive rights:

May 20, 2022 — District attorneys like me have the power to decriminalize abortion. I pledge to protect a woman’s right to choose.

On Sunday, I joined over 100 Contra Costans before we headed to Sacramento or walked our neighborhoods in support of pro-choice candidates. As Rep. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan said, if we are going to protect our right to choose, we have to elect pro-choice candidates up and down the ballot.

As district attorney for Contra Costa County, public safety is my number one priority. I am committed to protecting the safety and well being of all individuals in our county. This means I am also committed to protecting our reproductive rights and protecting a woman’s right to choose – because protecting the right to choose is public safety. As prosecutors, we are entrusted with immense discretion, and that power carries an obligation to use that discretion wisely to seek justice.

More than two years ago, I joined a group of prosecutors across the country who saw this coming. We recognized that losing the constitutional right and the protection afforded to us by Roe v Wade was a possibility. That’s why we all took a written pledge to exercise our discretion to not criminalize women for making their decisions about their reproductive rights.

I’m proud to be the only candidate running for Contra Costa District Attorney that is endorsed by Planned Parenthood. A woman’s right to choose is fundamental. It is non negotiable. A woman’s power — her constitutional right to make choices about her personal health care — is a matter of public safety every day and every hour, and it must be protected. Our bodies, our choice.

We must stand united against decisions that have a disproportionate impact on any people in our community, especially women of color and communities of color. We must stand firm to make sure that our places of safety, like Planned Parenthood, are protected, and that the rights of the people who seek to enter are also protected by the criminal justice system.