00:00:10.468 --> 00:00:13.304
Medical history is being made this week in New York State.

00:00:13.304 --> 00:00:14.472
Over the last two weeks,

00:00:14.472 --> 00:00:15.390
the New York Assembly

00:00:15.390 --> 00:00:16.975
spent more than 13 hours

00:00:16.975 --> 00:00:17.809
debating a bill

00:00:17.809 --> 00:00:19.227
which would make abortion legal

00:00:19.227 --> 00:00:20.854
for any woman for any reason

00:00:20.854 --> 00:00:23.023
up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

00:00:23.231 --> 00:00:24.899
Advocates and enemies of the bill

00:00:24.899 --> 00:00:26.026
brought tremendous pressures

00:00:26.026 --> 00:00:28.236
to bear on legislators on the emotional issue.

00:00:28.486 --> 00:00:30.488
We're not going to sit quietly any longer.

00:00:30.488 --> 00:00:32.198
You are murdering us.

00:00:32.198 --> 00:00:34.242
The drama was summed up late yesterday

00:00:34.242 --> 00:00:36.119
when one man's vote made the difference.

00:00:37.203 --> 00:00:38.872
Mr. Speaker,

00:00:39.789 --> 00:00:42.625
I had hoped that this would never come to pass.

00:00:44.419 --> 00:00:45.879
I fully appreciate that this

00:00:45.879 --> 00:00:48.506
is the termination of my political career.

00:00:49.841 --> 00:00:52.218
But what's the use of getting elected

00:00:53.136 --> 00:00:54.679
or re-elected

00:00:55.805 --> 00:00:57.891
if you don't stand for something?

00:00:58.558 --> 00:01:02.062
Ayes 76, Nos 73, vote’s passed.

00:01:10.904 --> 00:01:13.990
Blasting you with total abandon and profanity.

00:01:16.576 --> 00:01:18.369
Very upset.

00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:21.623
Your floor speech today was a traitorous one.

00:01:22.957 --> 00:01:24.667
Does a person like you sleep at night?

00:01:24.667 --> 00:01:26.377
If so, I don't know how.

00:01:27.545 --> 00:01:30.423
Many women say they should have recourse to abortions.

00:01:30.673 --> 00:01:32.175
But this is often impossible

00:01:32.175 --> 00:01:34.302
since most states won't allow it.

00:01:34.302 --> 00:01:37.430
And those that do have such stringent medical requirements,

00:01:37.806 --> 00:01:39.891
few women qualify.

00:01:39.891 --> 00:01:42.977
Most women who want abortions must go around the law,

00:01:43.394 --> 00:01:46.898
and a million do that in this country every year.

00:01:47.107 --> 00:01:48.566
Have you gone through an abortion?

00:01:48.566 --> 00:01:49.692
Yes, I have.

00:01:50.151 --> 00:01:50.985
Why?

00:01:51.069 --> 00:01:53.488
I was pregnant and I could not have a child.

00:01:53.488 --> 00:01:54.989
And I don't think anyone has a right

00:01:54.989 --> 00:01:57.575
to bring an unwanted child into the world.

00:02:00.537 --> 00:02:01.955
My father was always concerned

00:02:01.955 --> 00:02:04.582
about the underdog, always concerned about people

00:02:04.874 --> 00:02:06.292
who had less than we did.

00:02:07.710 --> 00:02:10.296
He was known as a country lawyer.

00:02:10.296 --> 00:02:12.924
Every so often, people who came to him for help

00:02:12.924 --> 00:02:14.008
had no money.

00:02:14.008 --> 00:02:16.845
So they'd pay him in eggs or they'd bring him a chicken.

00:02:17.804 --> 00:02:21.224
We always had a moral conscience and a social conscience.

00:02:21.224 --> 00:02:24.936
And so when he was asked by the Democratic Party

00:02:24.936 --> 00:02:28.064
in Auburn to run for assembly, this is 1960,

00:02:28.606 --> 00:02:30.316
he agreed to do it.

00:02:31.276 --> 00:02:35.113
Auburn was a highly Republican, highly Catholic, small town.

00:02:35.321 --> 00:02:37.866
A very slow, even-tempered place.

00:02:38.324 --> 00:02:40.034
Really wasn't very exciting.

00:02:43.329 --> 00:02:44.831
When my father won,

00:02:44.831 --> 00:02:48.459
he was the first Democratic assemblyman from this county

00:02:48.459 --> 00:02:50.211
since the Civil War.

00:02:50.628 --> 00:02:52.297
And, you know what?

00:02:52.297 --> 00:02:53.798
He was the last.

00:02:53.798 --> 00:02:57.218
He had strong beliefs that a person in his position

00:02:57.218 --> 00:03:01.389
as an assemblyman owed a lot to his constituency.

00:03:01.389 --> 00:03:03.808
He knew how to serve his constituents

00:03:03.808 --> 00:03:05.560
so that they got what they needed,

00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:07.604
which is why he was able to get re-elected

00:03:07.604 --> 00:03:11.733
every couple of years by increasingly larger margins.

00:03:12.025 --> 00:03:14.068
He got re-elected five times.

00:03:14.652 --> 00:03:17.780
You know, every day he was at two or three events,

00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:19.616
especially when he was campaigning,

00:03:19.616 --> 00:03:21.826
clam bakes and banquets.

00:03:22.076 --> 00:03:24.829
There’s Michaels with Kennedy.

00:03:24.829 --> 00:03:26.956
Sometime this week, the Assembly will take up

00:03:26.956 --> 00:03:29.709
the abortion measure already passed by the Senate.

00:03:30.043 --> 00:03:31.836
If the Assembly approves the measure,

00:03:31.836 --> 00:03:33.671
it will become the most liberal abortion

00:03:33.671 --> 00:03:34.964
law in the country.

00:03:34.964 --> 00:03:36.716
A law that says only that a woman

00:03:36.716 --> 00:03:38.301
receive permission for an abortion

00:03:38.301 --> 00:03:40.011
from a licensed physician.

00:03:40.011 --> 00:03:41.471
This was a big thing,

00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.267
keeping in mind that 1970 was before

00:03:46.267 --> 00:03:49.354
the Supreme Court decision in Roe versus Wade.

00:03:50.271 --> 00:03:53.066
At that point in time, New York was the second

00:03:53.066 --> 00:03:55.318
most populous state in the United States,

00:03:55.318 --> 00:03:57.237
second only to California.

00:03:57.237 --> 00:03:59.405
It's a large segment of the United States

00:03:59.405 --> 00:04:01.407
that was affected by that. It was a big deal.

00:04:01.491 --> 00:04:05.745
It was the first proposed law anywhere to legalize abortion.

00:04:05.828 --> 00:04:06.704
In other states

00:04:06.704 --> 00:04:09.666
do we eliminate the restriction for rape and incest

00:04:09.666 --> 00:04:13.836
and things like that, but never do we legalize abortion.

00:04:14.170 --> 00:04:14.921
There are many

00:04:14.921 --> 00:04:18.758
who say that this bill is abortion on demand.

00:04:19.467 --> 00:04:22.053
I submit that we have abortion

00:04:22.053 --> 00:04:26.015
on demand in the state of New York right now.

00:04:26.391 --> 00:04:30.103
Any woman that wants an abortion can get one.

00:04:30.353 --> 00:04:33.898
If she has $25, she has it done here

00:04:34.148 --> 00:04:36.526
under the most abominable circumstances.

00:04:37.151 --> 00:04:39.612
And if she doesn't have the $25,

00:04:40.238 --> 00:04:43.992
please don't forget that she can abort herself.

00:04:44.409 --> 00:04:45.910
And regretfully,

00:04:46.494 --> 00:04:48.663
regretfully, this is happening

00:04:48.663 --> 00:04:52.417
more often than you or I like to admit.

00:04:52.625 --> 00:04:54.335
This was a bipartisan subject.

00:04:54.335 --> 00:04:55.628
There was a lot of Democrats

00:04:55.628 --> 00:04:57.255
and a lot of Republicans on one side,

00:04:57.255 --> 00:04:58.631
and there was a lot of Democrats,

00:04:58.631 --> 00:05:00.466
a lot of Republicans on the other side.

00:05:00.466 --> 00:05:03.594
I don't think you can analyze this bill on the basis

00:05:03.594 --> 00:05:05.513
of conservativism or liberalism,

00:05:05.513 --> 00:05:08.683
or any traditional philosophical approach.

00:05:08.725 --> 00:05:11.311
Of course, you do have the religious aspects to it,

00:05:11.853 --> 00:05:14.397
and that primarily, I believe, is where the opposition

00:05:14.397 --> 00:05:15.106
will come from.

00:05:15.106 --> 00:05:17.108
Catholics and Orthodox Jews have been warned

00:05:17.108 --> 00:05:18.401
by their religious leaders

00:05:18.401 --> 00:05:21.279
to avoid any involvement with abortion procedures.

00:05:21.321 --> 00:05:22.905
The Vatican has published a letter

00:05:22.905 --> 00:05:23.865
from Pope Paul’s

00:05:23.865 --> 00:05:25.283
Secretary of State,

00:05:25.283 --> 00:05:27.702
making it plain that the Roman Catholic Church

00:05:27.702 --> 00:05:30.997
still regards abortion as nothing more than homicide,

00:05:30.997 --> 00:05:33.374
even when the mother's life is threatened.

00:05:38.171 --> 00:05:38.963
You know, I was

00:05:38.963 --> 00:05:41.591
17 when this all came up,

00:05:41.591 --> 00:05:43.051
so I wasn't old enough to vote yet.

00:05:43.051 --> 00:05:44.552
I don't think I read the paper.

00:05:44.552 --> 00:05:47.680
I remember in religion class, they passed a petition

00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.350
around for us to sign opposing the law.

00:05:50.892 --> 00:05:53.644
And I remember that only

00:05:54.228 --> 00:05:56.564
one other girl and I didn't sign it.

00:05:57.106 --> 00:05:58.274
I was shocked.

00:05:58.274 --> 00:06:00.777
I was really shocked that all the boys signed it.

00:06:00.777 --> 00:06:03.821
And I was taken aback and said, you know,

00:06:03.821 --> 00:06:06.908
“What right do they have to say what women can or can't do

00:06:08.701 --> 00:06:09.827
with their lives?”

00:06:09.827 --> 00:06:10.870
People were talking about it.

00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:13.331
It was big news, there's no question.

00:06:13.331 --> 00:06:16.501
But my Dad was basically trying to stay out of it

00:06:16.876 --> 00:06:19.253
because he didn't want to upset anybody.

00:06:19.253 --> 00:06:22.090
His personal feeling about whether it should be legalized,

00:06:22.632 --> 00:06:25.593
we never talked about it. No girls in the family

00:06:25.760 --> 00:06:27.261
except for my sister-in-law.

00:06:27.261 --> 00:06:29.430
I didn't talk to him that much about it.

00:06:29.472 --> 00:06:31.766
You know, I was his daughter-in-law.

00:06:31.766 --> 00:06:35.353
However, he was well aware of the fact that his home base

00:06:35.353 --> 00:06:36.729
was the city of Auburn,

00:06:36.729 --> 00:06:40.525
which was dominated by a large bloc of population

00:06:40.525 --> 00:06:42.402
that was opposed to it, largely

00:06:42.402 --> 00:06:44.404
because of religious beliefs.

00:06:44.404 --> 00:06:47.907
We had a thriving law practice here in Auburn, very busy,

00:06:47.907 --> 00:06:50.618
and obviously one would have to consider

00:06:50.618 --> 00:06:53.079
that would probably be a negative effect on the practice

00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:54.705
because a certain number of people

00:06:54.705 --> 00:06:56.916
might leave as clients.

00:06:56.916 --> 00:06:59.585
So he made a promise to the county committee

00:07:00.044 --> 00:07:01.587
that he would vote against it.

00:07:04.549 --> 00:07:05.925
It is my hope that we will

00:07:05.925 --> 00:07:10.054
defeat this bill so unhumane and so unchristian.

00:07:10.054 --> 00:07:11.472
In the last ten years,

00:07:11.472 --> 00:07:15.476
367 young women in New York City were known

00:07:15.893 --> 00:07:18.104
to have died as a result of an abortion

00:07:18.104 --> 00:07:20.022
or an attempted one,

00:07:20.273 --> 00:07:22.066
either self-inflicted or performed

00:07:22.066 --> 00:07:25.945
by an unqualified person and under unsafe circumstances.

00:07:25.945 --> 00:07:29.282
All we're asking for is that these abortions

00:07:29.282 --> 00:07:33.578
be performed by a doctor under proper medical circumstances.

00:07:33.578 --> 00:07:37.248
The reason that the State of New York adopted

00:07:37.623 --> 00:07:41.794
the strict prohibition on abortion was for medical reasons

00:07:42.128 --> 00:07:44.881
because of the danger in an abortion

00:07:44.881 --> 00:07:47.508
in the early years of the 19th century.

00:07:47.842 --> 00:07:50.386
Now, this fact is no longer true.

00:07:50.678 --> 00:07:53.973
The medical reason for the law doesn't exist anymore.

00:07:53.973 --> 00:07:55.391
When does life begin?

00:07:55.391 --> 00:07:56.934
Can you answer that for me?

00:07:56.934 --> 00:07:59.020
Life begins at the moment of conception,

00:07:59.020 --> 00:08:00.646
but I am here as a legislator.

00:08:00.646 --> 00:08:04.650
I have an obligation to give a hearing

00:08:04.775 --> 00:08:06.277
and recognition to the fact

00:08:06.277 --> 00:08:07.904
that that is not the same view

00:08:07.904 --> 00:08:10.031
of all people under all circumstances.

00:08:10.031 --> 00:08:11.324
I've tried to get across

00:08:11.324 --> 00:08:13.493
and obviously not succeeded completely.

00:08:14.076 --> 00:08:15.328
Women do not have

00:08:15.328 --> 00:08:17.497
abortions unless they are compelled to do it

00:08:17.497 --> 00:08:21.751
by a sort of compulsion that no law you can draw

00:08:22.043 --> 00:08:23.002
would change.

00:08:23.002 --> 00:08:27.423
Could we have saved 367 young women from dying?

00:08:27.757 --> 00:08:30.885
That is the only question of conscience in my opinion,

00:08:30.885 --> 00:08:32.678
that anybody should be concerned with.

00:08:36.974 --> 00:08:39.101
I graduated college in ‘68.

00:08:39.769 --> 00:08:42.688
I was very involved in social action at the time.

00:08:42.855 --> 00:08:45.900
Anti-war, peace movement, civil rights.

00:08:45.942 --> 00:08:47.777
I was doing everything.

00:08:47.777 --> 00:08:50.363
My Dad said, “You know, I can't vote for the bill.”

00:08:50.738 --> 00:08:52.198
And I said, “I understand,

00:08:52.198 --> 00:08:55.785
just as long as your vote isn't the one to to defeat it.”

00:08:56.702 --> 00:08:58.788
I never dreamed

00:08:58.788 --> 00:09:00.831
that it would come to the point

00:09:00.831 --> 00:09:01.874
where his vote would be

00:09:01.874 --> 00:09:04.043
the one that was was so critical.

00:09:05.461 --> 00:09:07.630
This was typical of conversations

00:09:07.630 --> 00:09:09.215
between young adults

00:09:09.215 --> 00:09:13.052
and their parents in almost every house in the country,

00:09:13.052 --> 00:09:14.262
whether it was Vietnam,

00:09:14.262 --> 00:09:15.304
whether it was civil rights,

00:09:15.304 --> 00:09:17.848
whether it was equal pay for equal work.

00:09:18.307 --> 00:09:20.142
Our parents couldn't understand

00:09:20.142 --> 00:09:22.436
why we weren't happy with the way things were.

00:09:23.563 --> 00:09:25.690
So what was in our house was emblematic

00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:27.316
of what's going on all over the country,

00:09:27.316 --> 00:09:29.527
except my Dad was a state assemblyman.

00:09:29.527 --> 00:09:33.823
And unlike 99.9% of the rest of the country,

00:09:34.115 --> 00:09:35.825
he could actually do something about it.

00:09:38.786 --> 00:09:40.621
When I was a senior in college,

00:09:40.621 --> 00:09:42.248
I found out there had been several

00:09:42.248 --> 00:09:46.836
young women in my graduating class who had had abortions.

00:09:47.253 --> 00:09:49.171
This is back in the sixties.

00:09:49.171 --> 00:09:50.548
No one talked about it.

00:09:50.548 --> 00:09:52.466
It was taboo.

00:09:53.301 --> 00:09:56.053
I was lucky. I didn't have to face that problem.

00:09:56.512 --> 00:10:00.641
But I could see the look of fear in the girls’ eyes who did.

00:10:01.183 --> 00:10:06.022
Finally became something where I had to express my beliefs.

00:10:07.523 --> 00:10:09.525
I could see a change in him.

00:10:09.525 --> 00:10:11.569
It kind of opened his eyes.

00:10:11.569 --> 00:10:14.363
He had no idea it was as serious as it was.

00:10:14.864 --> 00:10:16.866
I probably said something like,

00:10:16.866 --> 00:10:19.619
“Well, you’re probably still going to vote the same way, aren't you?”

00:10:21.245 --> 00:10:22.788
Mr. Michaels.

00:10:24.081 --> 00:10:25.541
Mr. Miller.

00:10:26.792 --> 00:10:28.002
Mr. Murtaugh.

00:10:29.253 --> 00:10:30.046
Mr. Mitchell.

00:10:30.713 --> 00:10:32.214
Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear the vote.

00:10:32.214 --> 00:10:33.049
May I have it again?

00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:36.385
The bill needed 76 votes to pass and it got 75.

00:10:36.552 --> 00:10:38.095
He had voted opposed.

00:10:38.596 --> 00:10:40.431
He had voted opposed to the bill.

00:10:41.766 --> 00:10:44.018
Staffers and aides were in the chamber

00:10:44.018 --> 00:10:44.894
to see what happened

00:10:44.894 --> 00:10:47.438
and when they saw the number of votes switching against it,

00:10:47.438 --> 00:10:48.564
they said “It will never pass.”

00:10:48.564 --> 00:10:50.399
And they started walking out.

00:10:51.942 --> 00:10:55.154
Very often, the most organized groups

00:10:55.571 --> 00:10:58.783
that do the most lobbying, that make the most noise

00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.203
are groups that actually don't represent a majority.

00:11:02.495 --> 00:11:03.371
So very often

00:11:03.371 --> 00:11:06.415
you have to take quiet conversation with yourself.

00:11:07.041 --> 00:11:08.918
I know where people stand,

00:11:08.918 --> 00:11:10.753
but I have to do what I think is right.

00:11:10.753 --> 00:11:12.922
You're the only hope we have.

00:11:14.006 --> 00:11:16.467
You're the only vote we've got.

00:11:17.677 --> 00:11:19.720
Assemblyman George Michaels, an Upstate

00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:21.555
Democrat who had voted against the bill,

00:11:21.555 --> 00:11:22.807
asked for the floor.

00:11:22.807 --> 00:11:24.392
Mr. Speaker.

00:11:25.810 --> 00:11:27.103
Mr. Michaels.

00:11:28.896 --> 00:11:30.940
I ask your indulgence.

00:11:34.235 --> 00:11:37.279
I had hoped that this would never come to pass.

00:11:40.324 --> 00:11:42.118
Just before I left

00:11:42.702 --> 00:11:44.453
for Albany this week,

00:11:45.788 --> 00:11:47.206
my son Jim,

00:11:48.999 --> 00:11:50.876
who, as you recall, Mr. Speaker,

00:11:53.963 --> 00:11:55.589
gave the invocation

00:11:55.589 --> 00:11:57.133
to this Assembly

00:11:58.634 --> 00:12:00.261
on February 4th,

00:12:01.387 --> 00:12:03.973
and he said, “Dad, for God's sake,

00:12:05.141 --> 00:12:06.809
don't let your vote be the vote

00:12:06.809 --> 00:12:08.602
that defeats this bill.”

00:12:11.355 --> 00:12:13.524
Many people in my district

00:12:17.111 --> 00:12:18.863
may not only condemn me

00:12:18.863 --> 00:12:20.614
for what I'm about to do,

00:12:21.949 --> 00:12:23.409
but Mr. Speaker,

00:12:25.453 --> 00:12:27.455
I say to you in all candor

00:12:28.831 --> 00:12:30.416
and I say this very feelingly

00:12:30.416 --> 00:12:31.625
to all of you.

00:12:34.044 --> 00:12:36.213
What's the use of getting elected

00:12:37.173 --> 00:12:38.507
or re-elected

00:12:40.009 --> 00:12:42.386
if you don't stand for something?

00:12:44.346 --> 00:12:45.848
So, Mr. Speaker,

00:12:46.599 --> 00:12:48.976
I fully appreciate that this is the termination

00:12:48.976 --> 00:12:50.936
of my political career,

00:12:53.147 --> 00:12:56.484
but I cannot in good conscience stand here

00:12:57.234 --> 00:13:00.780
and thwart the obvious majority

00:13:01.697 --> 00:13:03.115
of this House,

00:13:04.283 --> 00:13:06.994
the members of whom I dearly love

00:13:07.912 --> 00:13:10.664
and for whom I have a great deal of affection.

00:13:11.624 --> 00:13:13.709
I’ll probably never come back here again

00:13:13.709 --> 00:13:16.003
to share these things with you.

00:13:18.297 --> 00:13:20.633
I therefore request you, Mr. Speaker

00:13:21.342 --> 00:13:24.053
to change my negative vote to an affirmative vote.

00:13:28.349 --> 00:13:31.852
Ayes 76, Nos 73, vote’s passed.

00:13:32.937 --> 00:13:34.855
Suddenly, all hell broke loose.

00:13:34.855 --> 00:13:35.981
In New York State today,

00:13:35.981 --> 00:13:36.899
the Senate passed

00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:38.442
a long disputed abortion bill.

00:13:38.442 --> 00:13:40.778
One of the nation's most sweeping abortion control bills.

00:13:40.778 --> 00:13:44.031
Making it entirely a decision to be made by a woman

00:13:44.031 --> 00:13:44.949
and her doctor.

00:13:44.949 --> 00:13:47.159
The bill now goes to Governor Nelson Rockefeller,

00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:48.786
who has said he will sign it.

00:13:48.786 --> 00:13:51.539
I was living in Cincinnati at the time and I'm

00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:52.665
in the middle of a meeting

00:13:52.665 --> 00:13:56.085
that evening and get this phone call from a station

00:13:56.085 --> 00:13:58.712
in Long Island telling me what happened.

00:13:59.171 --> 00:14:00.381
I said, “What?”

00:14:00.381 --> 00:14:02.466
The kids were watching Sesame Street

00:14:02.466 --> 00:14:03.592
when I got a phone call

00:14:03.592 --> 00:14:07.680
saying, “Switch stations, Grampa’s on TV.”

00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:11.267
The fact that CBS and NBC both had cameras

00:14:11.267 --> 00:14:13.143
in the legislative chambers

00:14:13.143 --> 00:14:15.062
showed how groundbreaking it was.

00:14:15.521 --> 00:14:16.605
I called my Mother,

00:14:16.605 --> 00:14:18.732
she said, “Oh my God, so much is happening,

00:14:18.858 --> 00:14:20.609
we can't talk.”

00:14:20.985 --> 00:14:22.987
Because the phone was just continually ringing.

00:14:22.987 --> 00:14:25.656
Your family was correct in their description of you,

00:14:25.656 --> 00:14:27.283
however, they were too kind.

00:14:27.283 --> 00:14:29.326
They left out the adjective dirty.

00:14:29.326 --> 00:14:31.954
Shocked and confused by your recent vote.

00:14:32.746 --> 00:14:35.165
What a disgusting display of emotion

00:14:35.165 --> 00:14:37.751
you put on for the benefit of television cameras.

00:14:37.751 --> 00:14:39.628
That was a slick trick you used.

00:14:39.628 --> 00:14:42.172
A man who lets his children

00:14:42.172 --> 00:14:43.924
make his decisions for him

00:14:43.924 --> 00:14:45.551
cannot be much of a man.

00:14:45.551 --> 00:14:47.845
All right, that was the K’s.

00:14:47.845 --> 00:14:50.431
I hope you choke on your chicken soup and matzah.

00:14:50.431 --> 00:14:52.725
Oh yeah, there was real trouble.

00:14:52.725 --> 00:14:55.603
A lot of people were bent on not nominating him

00:14:55.603 --> 00:14:58.147
for another term, and they succeeded.

00:14:58.689 --> 00:15:00.149
The ramifications?

00:15:00.149 --> 00:15:01.191
He lost.

00:15:01.859 --> 00:15:03.235
He lost his election.

00:15:03.235 --> 00:15:05.321
He lost the primary, he lost his election.

00:15:05.654 --> 00:15:06.655
This one just says,

00:15:06.655 --> 00:15:08.657
“Man, I am glad to see that

00:15:08.657 --> 00:15:10.784
you will be out of the assembly next year.

00:15:10.784 --> 00:15:12.953
You never had any business being there.

00:15:12.953 --> 00:15:15.372
You were voted in by the people of your county

00:15:15.372 --> 00:15:16.999
and not just your family.”

00:15:16.999 --> 00:15:18.500
Oh, we talked about it a lot.

00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:21.211
It had great ramifications on the family.

00:15:22.212 --> 00:15:23.047
My Mother,

00:15:23.047 --> 00:15:24.465
who had been born and raised

00:15:24.465 --> 00:15:27.134
in Auburn, felt that the community had turned on her.

00:15:28.218 --> 00:15:30.512
Those are the letters we got,

00:15:30.512 --> 00:15:31.805
two or three weeks.

00:15:33.098 --> 00:15:34.642
Then they stopped writing.

00:15:36.268 --> 00:15:38.395
But the positive stuff,

00:15:39.396 --> 00:15:40.481
that never ended.

00:15:40.481 --> 00:15:41.398
I remember being

00:15:41.398 --> 00:15:43.484
in this back bedroom at my Grandparents’ house

00:15:44.318 --> 00:15:47.154
when these women of all ages came,

00:15:47.154 --> 00:15:47.988
flew from all over the country,

00:15:47.988 --> 00:15:49.698
to this little town in upstate New York,

00:15:49.698 --> 00:15:51.825
to come to his bedside and thank him.

00:15:51.825 --> 00:15:53.744
I mean, it was incredible.

00:15:54.036 --> 00:15:56.163
The most liberal abortion law in the country

00:15:56.163 --> 00:15:57.623
went into effect yesterday.

00:15:57.623 --> 00:15:59.291
The Family Planning Information Service,

00:15:59.291 --> 00:16:00.501
would you hold on please?

00:16:00.709 --> 00:16:02.169
How far has this pregnancy advanced?

00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:04.672
I’ll call you right back and can you fly right in

00:16:04.672 --> 00:16:06.215
if I get that kind of referral for you?

00:16:06.215 --> 00:16:07.549
It’s simply a matter of how well

00:16:07.549 --> 00:16:09.718
New York City, principally the city,

00:16:09.718 --> 00:16:10.928
of course, to some extent,

00:16:10.928 --> 00:16:13.806
the rest of the state, handle this law here.

00:16:14.056 --> 00:16:16.475
If they handle it well, I think we'll have repeal

00:16:16.725 --> 00:16:19.144
throughout the country within two years at the most.

00:16:19.436 --> 00:16:20.813
I’m that optimistic.

00:16:21.105 --> 00:16:24.400
That bill became model legislation for other states

00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:25.609
and became picked up

00:16:25.609 --> 00:16:27.653
by the highest levels of the court system

00:16:27.653 --> 00:16:29.363
in this country in Roe versus Wade.

00:16:29.363 --> 00:16:30.739
New York State, among others,

00:16:30.739 --> 00:16:32.866
already have liberalized abortions.

00:16:33.075 --> 00:16:35.411
Now, the rest of the country must follow suit.

00:16:35.411 --> 00:16:37.246
Definitely because of Assemblyman Michaels,

00:16:37.246 --> 00:16:40.124
because if the bill just sort of roared to approval

00:16:40.124 --> 00:16:42.126
it might not have attracted so much attention.

00:16:42.126 --> 00:16:43.293
The Supreme Court agreed today

00:16:43.293 --> 00:16:44.128
to hear arguments

00:16:44.128 --> 00:16:46.505
on one of the most sensitive issues of the time,

00:16:46.505 --> 00:16:47.923
the legality of abortion.

00:16:47.923 --> 00:16:49.216
In a landmark ruling,

00:16:49.216 --> 00:16:52.261
the Supreme Court today legalized abortions.

00:16:52.469 --> 00:16:53.262
The majority

00:16:53.262 --> 00:16:55.180
in cases from Texas and Georgia said

00:16:55.180 --> 00:16:57.224
that the decision to end the pregnancy

00:16:57.224 --> 00:17:00.060
during the first three months belongs to the woman

00:17:00.060 --> 00:17:02.146
and her doctor, not the government.

00:17:02.479 --> 00:17:04.440
Thus, the anti-abortion laws

00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.651
of 46 states were rendered unconstitutional.

00:17:07.860 --> 00:17:10.154
This was probably the most important

00:17:11.321 --> 00:17:12.698
point in my life.

00:17:12.698 --> 00:17:14.825
This was not his personal passion.

00:17:14.992 --> 00:17:19.288
So the fact that he really listened to his middle son

00:17:19.288 --> 00:17:20.539
and his daughter-in-law,

00:17:20.539 --> 00:17:22.041
who I can only imagine

00:17:22.041 --> 00:17:24.418
were talking to him in pretty desperate tones,

00:17:24.793 --> 00:17:26.295
you know, he took it in.

00:17:26.295 --> 00:17:29.465
He took it in and he did something about it.

00:17:29.757 --> 00:17:32.718
He knew what he was doing and he did it at risk of

00:17:32.718 --> 00:17:34.928
of the fact that he would lose his political position

00:17:34.928 --> 00:17:36.055
with his vote.

00:17:36.055 --> 00:17:38.307
Not many people do that anymore.

00:17:39.099 --> 00:17:41.101
You know, we've talked about some of the perspectives

00:17:41.101 --> 00:17:41.894
on leadership.

00:17:41.894 --> 00:17:45.230
We've started a really great piece of work about,

00:17:45.731 --> 00:17:47.483
you know, feminist leadership.

00:17:47.483 --> 00:17:49.485
But now I wanted to move us to start

00:17:49.485 --> 00:17:52.404
thinking about what I think is most critical,

00:17:52.404 --> 00:17:53.405
and that is

00:17:53.405 --> 00:17:56.784
the element of leadership that requires real moral courage.

00:17:57.159 --> 00:18:00.287
I want today to talk about George Michaels.

00:18:00.579 --> 00:18:03.332
My concern is that too many of the people who exercise

00:18:03.332 --> 00:18:04.249
moral courage

00:18:04.249 --> 00:18:06.543
don't have a legacy because we don't talk about them.

00:18:06.543 --> 00:18:08.504
If you're looking for a model

00:18:08.504 --> 00:18:09.505
for doing that, for

00:18:09.505 --> 00:18:10.506
sticking your neck out,

00:18:10.506 --> 00:18:12.925
for taking a position of moral courage,

00:18:12.925 --> 00:18:15.969
Assemblyman George Michaels is right at the top of my list.

00:18:25.979 --> 00:18:28.816
It's not on his tombstone, but he always said,

00:18:29.483 --> 00:18:33.445
“The most important thing you can ever say about anyone

00:18:35.447 --> 00:18:37.449
is he made a difference.”

00:18:41.078 --> 00:18:42.913
And my Dad made a difference.

00:18:43.956 --> 00:18:46.333
What's the use of getting elected

00:18:47.084 --> 00:18:48.669
or re-elected

00:18:49.753 --> 00:18:52.047
if you don't stand for something?