IT DIDN’T start with Roe vs. Wade. It began with a mild Democratic assemblyman from upstate New York who threw away his political career for a principle.
Thirty years ago today, George Michaels, a legislator from conservative Auburn, stood before his fellow assembly members in Albany. And changed history.
Speaking in nervous tones, Michaels changed his vote from “nay” to “yea.”
And with that, abortion became legal in the state of New York.
Three years later, influenced by our state, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
And it almost didn’t happen.
Today, as some celebrate — and others mourn — New York’s place in abortion history, it is fitting to remember George Michaels, who died of cancer in 1992 at age 82.
While the majority who favor abortion come under daily assault by the minority who oppose it, Michaels’ courage is inspiring.
Go back to April 11, 1970. The place is the Assembly chamber in Albany.
On the table was an abortion bill that was passed by the state Senate. The Assembly rejected it, with a tie vote of 74-to-74.
Suddenly, Michaels — who’d voted against the bill — rose to his feet. As the clamorous room fell silent as a tomb, no one had a clue what he was about to do.
“I read a book once called ‘Profiles in Courage,'” Michaels began. Then he quoted his son Jim.
“Dad, for God’s sake, don’t let yours be the vote that defeats this bill.”
“I must have some peace in my family,” Michaels continued, “and I therefore request to change my negative vote to an affirmative vote.”
Franz Leichter, then a Democratic Manhattan assemblyman, remembers the dramatic moment vividly.
“People were cheering. Some were moaning. Some were clapping him on the shoulder. Some berating him,” Leichter said.
“I think we realized we had achieved something very significant. I don’t think anyone knew how important it would be for the nation.”
Angry constituents soon voted Michaels out of the office he’d held for a decade.
But today, Michaels’ sons — Jim, a rabbi from Michigan; Lee, an Auburn lawyer; and Bill, an officer for a Denver philanthropic association — are in New York to honor their father at a Yale Club luncheon sponsored by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
Also attending are other veterans of the abortion wars, such as Al Lewis. The former assemblyman from Brooklyn said it was the face of a teenage girl — victim of an illegal abortion — that prompted him to vote in favor of legal abortion.
“A woman they called ‘The Spanish Lady,’ would set up in a barber shop in Coney Island, using a sterilizer meant for towels,” remembered Lewis.
“A young girl, she was 15 or 16, became infected. She couldn’t go into the hospital until she was in critical condition. She died there.”
More than three decades later, “I can still remember the smell” of the barber shop, Lewis said.
The irony is that today, while women no longer die in large numbers in back alleys, legitimate abortion doctors risk dying in a hail of bullets.
“No one thought that we would still be fighting these battles,” said Kelli Conlin, executive director of New York’s NARAL chapter.
Lee Michaels, 59, who was his dad’s law partner, told me: “When presented with the opportunity to do something courageous and brave, most of us usually do the pragmatic thing.
“George Michaels was the bravest man I ever knew.”
May he be an example to us all.