Movie Review

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Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 86.3 | The History Cooperative

From Danger to Dignity: The Fight for Safe Abortion. Prod. by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, and Beth Seltzer, 1996. 57 mins. (Women Make Movies, 462 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013)

On April 9, 1970, George Michaels, a state representative from upstate New York, broke the tie vote on a bill to legalize abortion in New York State. "I fully appreciate that this is the termination of my political career," Michaels accurately predicted, "but Mr. Speaker, what's the use of being elected or reelected if you don't stand for something? I cannot in good conscience stand here and be the vote that defeats this bill." After changing his vote from negative to affirmative, Michaels sank back in his seat, visibly shaken by his own act of courage. 1

Michaels's speech is one of the many individual acts of heroism documented by this film through moving footage and illuminating interviews with the participants in the movement to legalize abortion. The video introduces many of the people who broke the law in the pre-Roe v. Wade period in order to provide help to women seeking abortions and to challenge what they felt were unjust laws. As a welcome reminder that not all religious leaders have opposed women's reproductive freedom, the film pays a good deal of attention to the Clergy Consultation Service, a network of ministers and rabbis who, believing, in the words of its founder, that the clergy could not care about women's spirits "without caring about their bodies," provided information on how to obtain abortions. . . .

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