Deciding Vote

What happens to those who make great sacrifices in order to undertake morally courageous acts? We might imagine any number of things, but, this film suggests, most often they are simply forgotten.

New York State Assemblyman George M Michaels was, for a politician, a fairly modest man who toed the Democratic Party line and wasn’t the sort to rock the boat – until, that is, the fateful day of 9 April, 1970, when the State of New York found itself deadlocked on a bill to remove restrictions on access to abortion. This was three years before Roe vs. Wade and was the first time such a bill had made its way to a state legislature. Passions ran high on both sides. Party had little to do with it. Michaels had voted against but, at the last minute, having listened to the pleas of his son and his son’s girlfriend, he reversed his decision.

We are privy to some of the hate mail that followed. The political consequences for him were enormous, as he knew they would be. But, he said, the hate faded, and the letters of thanks never stopped coming.

Needless to say, politicians seeking out different views, really listening and changing their moral views is rare. It’s rare in anyone, but to do it so publicly, in full knowledge of the ruin that would follow, is something rarely encountered in history. Robert J Lyons and Jeremy Workman’s Oscar-shortlisted short documentary seeks not only to commemorate him but also to try and tease out what it was about him that enabled this, and to illustrate to other people that such things are possible.

It’s a film built out of archive footage and supported by interviews, mostly personal, which are shot with carefully moderated colours to avoid sharp contrasts with the black and white. The directors are similarly careful with the tone, not wanting to elevate Michaels into something superhuman; the point is that he was an ordinary man and he did this anyway. In a country where ordinary people feel increasingly powerless, especially around the issue of control over their own bodies, it’s a vital piece of filmmaking.