In honor of the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the story of the New York assemblyman who, in 1970, changed his vote from “no” to “yes,” breaking a tie and effectively legalizing abortion. My idea of real and true family values: when your family members (whether that means your parents, your wife or husband and children or the other people in your life who matter) challenge you to stand up for what you know is right, even if it costs you. Even if it costs them.  

From New York Said Yes and Stunned the Nation:

Franz S. Leichter: “We had the first vote [on March 30] and it was 73 for to 70 against. But we needed 76 votes, an absolute majority of the house, for it to pass. That certainly cast a pall and made us very apprehensive, but we agreed to table it and try to bring it up a second time [on April 9]… . People were really torn, as a matter of conscience and as a matter of politics. People who had voted yes the first time voted no, and people who had voted no the first time voted yes. I spent 30 years in the Legislature, and it was one of maybe 20 times that I saw a bill come to floor where you really just didn’t know what was going to happen.”

Midway through an agonizing roll call, Assemblyman George M. Michaels, a Democrat from a heavily Catholic, central New York district, quietly voted no.

The count ended at 74 to 74. One Assembly member was absent. Speaker Perry B. Duryea Jr., a Montauk Republican, did not vote, in keeping with the tradition that the speaker votes only if it affects the outcome.

Before the clerk could bring the vote to a close, Mr. Michaels stood and asked to be recognized. At first he rambled, his voice thick and trembling, and it was unclear where he was headed. But heads turned when he said his constituents would ”condemn me for what I am about to do.”

”One of my sons just called me a whore for the vote I cast against this,” Mr. Michaels said. Another son had told him, ”Dad, for God’s sake, don’t let your vote be the vote that defeats this bill.”

”I fully appreciate that this is the termination of my political career,” he said. ”But Mr. Speaker, I must have some peace in my family. And I therefore request you, Mr. Speaker, to change my negative vote to an affirmative vote.”

He crumpled into his seat and buried his face in his hands as bedlam swallowed the chamber. Someone screamed epithets at him. Mr. Blumenthal kissed his forehead.

Mr. Duryea cast the final ”aye” vote, making it 76 to 73. Voting yes were 46 Democrats and 30 Republicans. Voting no were 24 Democrats and 49 Republicans.

The next day, the Senate passed the Assembly version of the bill. The day after that, April 11, Mr. Rockefeller signed it into law. ”The wives of the Senate and the Assembly put this bill through,” he said.

In that year’s elections, Assemblyman Michaels, Senator Dominick and a handful of others who supported the bill lost to anti-abortion challengers. Mr. Brydges, who retired in 1972, died in 1975. Mr. Michaels died in 1992 at age 80.