New York Attorney General withdraws from Irish dinner
The New York state attorney general, a prominent abortion rights supporter, has withdrawn from a gathering celebrating Irish-American heritage in the wake of criticism from an anti-abortion group.
Eliot Spitzer decided to cancel his address to the Friendly Sons of St Patrick after the anti-abortion group American Life League criticised the decision to invite him to the dinner in New York City on March 16.
“Out of respect for the organisers, he decided it was best to withdraw,” said his spokesman, Darren Dopp.
”Eliot did not want the event to be transformed into a debate on reproductive rights. This is supposed to be a warm celebration of Irish heritage and nothing should detract from that.”
The American Life League headlined its press release Why Would NY Catholic Big Shots Honour Pro-abortion Attorney General?”
“We are gratified that Attorney General Spitzer has come to terms with the fact that his very presence at such an event is a distasteful insult to Irish Catholic heritage,” said Patrick Delaney, a spokesman for the anti-abortion group.
The Friendly Sons of St Patrick, named for the Catholic saint, is a two-century old social and charitable group originally formed to help Irish immigrants. It has since become a more business-oriented networking organisation.
A spokesman for the group said Spitzer’s withdrawal from the 219th annual dinner was a joint decision resulting from the criticism.
“He graciously offered to step aside if it was determined it was going to detract from the dinner,” said the group’s president, John FitzSimons.
