The already contentious Democratic race for attorney general struck an even harsher note this weekend, when Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro aired a TV spot sharply questioning Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s stance on abortion rights.
The 30-second ad, which began airing on Pittsburgh TV stations Sunday evening, asserts that while Mr. Shapiro is backed by women’s health care provider Planned Parenthood, Mr. Zappala “refused to fill out a questionnaire” from the group.
“And Zappala is the one who jailed a woman who had a miscarriage, then charged her with concealing the death of a child,” the ad states.
That’s a reference to the 2007 case of Christine Hutchinson, a 22-year-old Bloomfield woman who had miscarried and kept the fetus in a freezer, where police found it. The county medical examiner’s office quickly determined that the miscarriage happened at the 19th or 20th week of development. She was initially charged with abusing a corpse; Mr. Zappala’s office later added a charge of “concealing the death of a child.”
Ms. Hutchinson was incarcerated in the mental health unit of the county jail for a week, then released after a preliminary hearing. But the decision to charge her at all was controversial: Abortion-rights advocates and foes alike told the Post-Gazette they opposed filing charges.
On Monday, Mr. Zappala said he filed the charges “so she could get the treatment she needs. The only reason we’d leave charges in place was to make sure she was getting treated. … It was all about her.”
Court records reflect that the case was dropped in December 2007 because “as per prior agreement, defendant has continued counseling with success.”
Ms. Hutchinson died in 2014. But Lawrence Fisher, who’d represented Ms. Hutchinson, said Monday that the ad “brought back a lot of bad memories.” He called the case “the most abusive prosecution I’ve ever witnessed. She was young and terrified, and he dragged her through the system for six months.”
Mr. Fisher said the DA’s office had “a very paternalistic attitude — that she wouldn’t get help unless they forced her to.”
The Post-Gazette asked mental health experts across the state about the wisdom of that approach. They either did not respond by deadline or said they were wary of wading into a political dispute. But in cases arising from drug or alcohol abuse, it isn’t uncommon for prosecutors to file charges to compel a defendant to seek treatment for substance abuse or other mental health concerns.
Mr. Zappala’s allies in Allegheny County bristled at the ad. Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, who has endorsed Mr. Zappala, called the spot “dirty politics.” Although she said she didn’t know the specifics of the 2007 case, “Steve has an impeccable record on domestic violence and other women’s issues.”
On abortion, Mr. Zappala has proceeded more quietly than Mr. Shapiro, an avowed liberal who touts his support of abortion rights. In public forums, Mr. Zappala has repeatedly pledged to uphold abortion rights as the law of the land, without giving his personal view of abortion.
Monday, he said, “I’m pro-choice.”
At public events, “I try to answer questions consistently, and I’ve told people that a woman’s right to choose is the law of this nation.” Reporters have not previously queried him directly on the topic, he said, “and I’ve never seen it as a campaign issue.”
His campaign acknowledged not responding to the Planned Parenthood questionnaire. A spokesman, Ken Snyder, ascribed that to “a dumb office oversight.”
Sari Stevens, who heads Planned Parenthood’s political advocacy arm in Pennsylvania, said a state attorney general “can both help and harm women’s reproductive options,” and her group called Mr. Shapiro “the only candidate we trust.” She said she couldn’t speak to Mr. Zappala’s position because “I don’t have anything in writing.”
Mr. Shapiro, by contrast, “has always been a champion of ours.”
Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com.
First Published: April 19, 2016, 4:06 a.m.
