The lawmaker George Michaels casts a historic vote to legalize abortion that destroys his political career, in a short documentary directed by Jeremy Workman and Rob Lyons. Emmy award-nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 >> Medical history is being made this week in New York State.
00:08 >> Over the last two weeks, the New York Assembly spent more than 13 hours
00:12 debating the bill which would make abortion legal for any woman, for
00:15 any reason, up to the 24th week of pregnancy.
00:18 >> Advocates and enemies of the bill brought tremendous pressures to bear on
00:21 legislators on the emotional issue.
00:23 >> We're not gonna sit quietly any longer.
00:25 You are murdering us.
00:27 >> The drama was summed up late yesterday when one man's vote made the difference.
00:32 >> Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that this would never come to pass.
00:37 [MUSIC]
00:39 I fully appreciate that this is the termination of my political career.
00:44 But what's the use of getting elected or
00:49 reelected if you don't stand for something?
00:53 >> I 76, no 73.
00:56 >> Those pass.
00:57 [APPLAUSE]
00:58 [MUSIC]
01:05 >> Blasting you with total abandon and profanity.
01:11 Very upset.
01:14 Your floor speech today was a traitorous one.
01:17 Does a person like you sleep at night?
01:19 If so, I don't know how.
01:22 >> Many women say they should have recourse to abortions.
01:25 But this is often impossible since most states won't allow it.
01:29 And those that do have such stringent medical requirements, few women qualify.
01:34 Most women who want abortions must go around the law.
01:38 And a million do that in this country every year.
01:42 >> Have you gone through an abortion, Peggy?
01:43 >> Yes, I have.
01:45 >> Why?
01:46 >> I was pregnant and I could not have a child and
01:48 I was not willing to go through a pregnancy and then give the child up.
01:51 I don't think anyone has a right to bring an unwanted child into the world.
01:55 [MUSIC]
01:56 >> My father was always concerned about the underdog,
02:01 always concerned about people who had less than we did.
02:05 He was known as a country lawyer.
02:08 Every so often, people who came to him for help had no money, so they'd pay him in eggs
02:13 or they'd bring him a chicken.
02:15 We always have a moral conscience and a social conscience.
02:19 And so when he was asked by the Democratic Party in Auburn to run for
02:24 assembly, this is 1960, he agreed to do it.
02:29 >> Auburn was a highly Republican, highly Catholic small town.
02:33 >> A very slow, even-tempered place.
02:36 Really it wasn't very exciting.
02:38 [MUSIC]
02:39 >> When my father won, he was the first Democratic assemblyman from this county
02:46 since the Civil War.
02:47 And you know what?
02:50 He was the last.
02:51 He had strong beliefs that a person in his position as an assemblyman owed a lot to his
02:58 constituency.
02:59 >> He knew how to serve his constituents so that they got what they needed, which is why
03:03 he was able to get reelected every couple of years by increasingly larger margins.
03:10 He got reelected five times.
03:13 Every day he was at two or three events, especially when he was campaigning, clam bags and banquets.
03:20 There's Michaels with Kennedy.
03:23 >> Sometime this week, the assembly will take up the abortion measure already passed by
03:26 the Senate.
03:27 If the assembly approves the measure, it will become the most liberal abortion law in the
03:32 country.
03:33 >> This was a big thing.
03:35 Keeping in mind that 1970 was before the Supreme Court decision in Roe versus Wade, at that
03:43 point in time, New York was the second most populous state in the United States, second
03:48 only to California.
03:49 That's a large segment of the United States that was affected by that.
03:53 It was a big deal.
03:54 >> It was the first proposed law anywhere to legalize abortion.
03:59 In other states, do we eliminate the restriction for rape and incest and things like that,
04:04 but never do we legalize abortion.
04:07 >> There are many who say that this bill is abortion on demand.
04:12 I submit that we have abortion on demand in the state of New York right now.
04:19 Any woman that wants an abortion can get one.
04:23 If she has $25, she has it done here under the most abominable circumstances.
04:30 And if she doesn't have the $25, please don't forget that she can abort herself.
04:37 And regretfully, regretfully, this is happening more often than you or I like to admit.
04:45 >> This was a bipartisan subject.
04:47 It was a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans on one side, and there was a lot of Democrats
04:51 and a lot of Republicans on the other side.
04:54 >> Catholics and Orthodox Jews have been warned by their religious leaders to avoid any involvement
04:58 with abortion procedures.
05:00 >> The Vatican has published a letter from Pope Paul's secretary of state, making it
05:04 plain that the Roman Catholic Church still regards abortion as nothing more than homicide,
05:10 even when the mother's life is threatened.
05:17 >> You know, I was 17 when this all came up, so I wasn't old enough to vote yet.
05:21 I don't think I read the paper.
05:23 I remember in religion class, they passed a petition around for us to sign, you know,
05:28 opposing the law.
05:30 And I remember that only one other girl and I didn't sign it.
05:35 I was shocked.
05:37 I was really shocked that all the boys signed it.
05:40 And I was taken aback.
05:41 I said, you know, what right do they have to say what women can or can't do, you know,
05:47 with their lives?
05:49 >> People were talking about it.
05:50 It was big news.
05:51 There's no question.
05:52 But my dad was basically trying to stay out of it, because he didn't want to upset anybody.
05:58 >> His personal feeling about whether it should be legalized, we never talked about.
06:03 No girls in the family, except for my sister-in-law.
06:06 >> I didn't talk to him that much about it, you know.
06:08 I was his daughter-in-law.
06:09 >> However, he was well aware of the fact that his home base was the city of Auburn,
06:15 which was dominated by a large block of population that was opposed to it, largely because of
06:21 religious beliefs.
06:23 >> We had a thriving law practice here in Auburn, very busy.
06:27 And obviously, one would have to consider that would probably be a negative effect on
06:31 the practice, because a certain number of people might leave as clients.
06:35 >> So he made a promise to the county committee that he would vote against it.
06:40 >> Has somebody thought to mention there are many, many adopted children in this world
06:48 that have created happiness not only for themselves, but for their parents?
06:51 >> In the last 10 years, 367 young women in New York City were known to have died as a
06:58 result of an abortion or an attempted one, either self-inflicted or performed by an unqualified
07:04 person and under unsafe circumstances.
07:07 >> All we're asking for is that these abortions be performed by a doctor under proper medical
07:14 circumstances.
07:15 >> The reason that the state of New York adopted this strict prohibition on abortion was for
07:21 medical reasons, because of the danger in an abortion in the early years of the 19th
07:28 century.
07:29 Now, this fact is no longer true.
07:32 The medical reason for the law doesn't exist anymore.
07:35 >> But when does life begin?
07:36 Can you answer that question?
07:37 >> Mr. Terry, for me, life begins at the moment of conception.
07:40 But I am here as a legislator.
07:42 I have an obligation to give a hearing and recognition to the fact that that is not the
07:48 same view of all people under all circumstances.
07:51 >> I've tried to get across and obviously not succeeded completely.
07:56 Women do not have abortions unless they are compelled to do it by a sort of compulsion
08:01 that no law you can draw would change.
08:04 >> Could we have saved 367 young women from dying?
08:09 That is the only question of conscience, in my opinion, that anybody should be concerned
08:13 with.
08:18 >> I graduated college in '68.
08:21 I was very involved in social action at the time, anti-war, peace movement, civil rights.
08:27 I was doing everything.
08:29 My dad said, you know, I can't vote for the bill.
08:32 And I said, I understand, just as long as your vote isn't the one to defeat it.
08:38 I never dreamed that it would come to the point where that would mean, where his vote
08:43 would be the one that was so critical.
08:47 >> This was typical of conversations between young adults and their parents in almost every
08:53 house in the country, whether it was Vietnam, whether it was civil rights, whether it was
08:57 equal pay for equal work.
09:00 Our parents couldn't understand why we weren't happy with the way things were.
09:05 So what was in our house was emblematic of what's going on all over the country, except
09:09 my dad was the state assemblyman.
09:11 And unlike 99.9% of the rest of the country, he could actually do something about it.
09:20 >> When I was a senior in college, I found out there had been several young women in
09:24 my graduating class who had had abortions.
09:28 This is back in the '60s.
09:30 No one talked about it.
09:32 It was taboo.
09:34 I was lucky I didn't have to face that problem.
09:37 But I could see the look of fear in the girl's eyes who did.
09:43 Finally became something where I had to express my, you know, my beliefs.
09:49 I could see a change in him.
09:51 It kind of opened his eyes.
09:53 He had no idea it was as serious as it was.
09:56 And I probably said something like, well, you're probably still going to vote the same
10:00 way, aren't you?
10:01 >> For Michaels.
10:02 For Miller.
10:03 For Murtho.
10:08 For Mitchell.
10:09 >> Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear the vote.
10:10 May I have it again?
10:11 >> The bill needed 76 votes to pass, and it got 75.
10:18 >> He had voted opposed.
10:20 He had voted opposed to the bill.
10:23 Staffers and aides were in the chamber to see what happened.
10:26 And when they saw the number of votes switching against it, they said it'll never pass.
10:30 And they started walking out.
10:33 >> Very often, the most organized groups that do the most lobbying, that make the most noise,
10:41 are groups that actually don't represent a majority.
10:44 So very often, you have to take quiet conversation with yourself.
10:48 I know where people stand, but I have to do what I think is right.
10:52 >> You're the only hope we have.
10:55 You're the only vote we've got.
10:59 >> Union Assemblyman George Michaels, an upstate Democrat who had voted against the bill, asked
11:03 for the floor.
11:04 >> Mr. Speaker.
11:05 Mr. Michaels.
11:06 I ask your indulgence.
11:07 I had hoped that this would never come to pass.
11:22 Just before I left for Albany this week, my son Jim, who as you recall, Mr. Speaker, gave
11:35 the invocation to this assembly on February 4th.
11:43 He said, "Dad, for God's sake, don't let your vote be the vote that defeats this bill."
11:53 Many people in my district may not only condemn me for what I'm about to do, but Mr. Speaker,
12:07 I say to you in all candor, I say this very feelingly to all of you, what's the use of
12:16 getting elected or reelected if you don't stand for something?
12:26 So Mr. Speaker, I fully appreciate that this is the termination of my political career,
12:35 but I cannot in good conscience stand here and thwart the obvious majority of this house.
12:46 The members of whom I dearly love and for whom I have a great deal of affection, I'll
12:53 probably never come back here again to share these things with you.
12:59 I therefore request you, Mr. Speaker, to change my negative vote to an affirmative vote.
13:14 Suddenly all hell broke loose.
13:16 In New York State today, the Senate passed the long disputed abortion bill.
13:20 One of the nation's most sweeping abortion controls.
13:22 Making it entirely a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor.
13:26 The bill now goes to Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who has said he will sign it.
13:30 I was living in Cincinnati at the time, and I'm in the middle of a meeting that evening
13:34 and I get this phone call from a station in Long Island telling me what happened.
13:40 I said, what?
13:42 The kids were watching Sesame Street.
13:44 When I got a phone call saying, switch stations, Grandpa's on the TV.
13:49 The fact that CBS and NBC both had cameras in the legislative chambers showed how groundbreaking
13:55 it was.
13:56 I called my mother.
13:57 She said, oh my God, so much is happening.
14:01 We can't talk.
14:02 Because the phone was just continually ringing.
14:04 Your family was correct in their description of you.
14:07 However, they were too kind.
14:09 They left out the adjective "dirty."
14:11 Shocked and confused by your recent vote.
14:14 What a disgusting display of emotion you put on for the benefit of television cameras.
14:19 That was a slick trick you used.
14:21 A man who lets his children make his decisions for him cannot be much of a man.
14:27 All right, that was the Ks.
14:29 I hope you choke on your chicken soup and matzah.
14:31 Oh yeah, there was real trouble.
14:34 A lot of people were bent on not nominating him for another term, and they succeeded.
14:40 The ramifications?
14:41 He lost.
14:43 He lost his election.
14:44 He lost the primary.
14:45 He lost his election.
14:47 This one just says, "Man.
14:48 I am glad to see that you will be out of the Assembly next year.
14:52 You never had any business being there.
14:54 You were voted in by the people of your county and not just your family."
14:58 Oh, we talked about it a lot.
15:00 It had great ramifications on the family.
15:03 My mother, who had been born and raised in Auburn, felt that the community had turned
15:08 on her.
15:10 Those are the letters we got two or three weeks.
15:14 Then they stopped writing.
15:18 But the positive stuff, that never ended.
15:22 I remember being in this back bedroom at my grandparents' house when these women of all
15:27 ages came, flew from all over the country to this little town in upstate New York to
15:31 come to his bedside and thank him.
15:33 I mean, it was incredible.
15:35 The most liberal abortion law in the country went into effect yesterday.
15:38 Family Planning Information Service, would you hold on please?
15:41 I'm a pregnancy advancer.
15:42 I'll call you right back.
15:43 And can you fly right in if I get that kind of referral for you?
15:47 It's simply a matter of how well New York City, principally the city, of course to some
15:52 extent the rest of the state, handle this new law here.
15:55 If they handle it well, I think we'll have repeal throughout the country within two years
15:59 at the most.
16:00 I'm that optimistic.
16:03 That bill became modeled legislation for other states and became picked up by the highest
16:07 levels of the court system in this country in Roe v. Wade.
16:11 New York State, among others, already have liberalized abortions.
16:14 Now the rest of the country must follow suit.
16:17 Partly because of Assemblyman Michaels.
16:18 Because if the bill had just sort of roared to approval, it might not have attracted so
16:22 much attention.
16:23 The Supreme Court agreed today to hear arguments on one of the most sensitive issues of the
16:27 time, the legality of abortions.
16:29 In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court today legalized abortions.
16:34 The majority in cases from Texas and Georgia said that the decision to end a pregnancy
16:38 during the first three months belongs to the woman and her doctor, not the government.
16:43 Thus, the anti-abortion laws of 46 states were rendered unconstitutional.
16:49 This was probably the most important point in my life.
16:54 This was not his personal passion.
16:56 So the fact that he really listened to his middle son and his daughter-in-law, who I
17:02 can only imagine were talking to him in pretty desperate tones, you know, he took it in.
17:07 He took it in and he did something about it.
17:11 He knew what he was doing and he did it at risk of the fact that he would lose his political
17:16 position with his vote.
17:17 Not many people do that anymore.
17:20 You know, we've talked about some of the perspectives on leadership.
17:23 We've started a really great piece of work about, you know, feminist leadership.
17:29 But now I wanted to move us to start thinking about what I think is most critical, and that
17:34 is the element of leadership that requires real moral courage.
17:38 I want today to talk about George Michaels.
17:42 My concern is that too many of the people who exercise moral courage don't have a legacy
17:46 because we don't talk about them.
17:48 If you're looking for a model for doing that, for sticking your neck out, for taking a position
17:53 of moral courage, Assemblyman George Michaels is right at the top of my list.
18:07 It's not on his toonstone, but he always said the most important thing you can ever say
18:13 about anyone is he made a difference.
18:22 And my dad made a difference.
18:25 But what's the use of getting elected or reelected if you don't stand for something?
18:32 [Music]
18:39 [Applause]
18:46 [Music]
18:53 [Applause]
19:03 [Music]
19:13 [Applause]
19:23 [Music]
19:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]