POTSDAM — A town councilor, the only man on a five-person board otherwise comprised of women, voted against a resolution urging federal officials to codify full rights to abortion.
The resolution passed 4-1 during the Potsdam town board’s Tuesday night monthly meeting. It is in response to the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Roe held that the 14th Amendment’s due process clause provided a fundamental “right to privacy,” which protected a pregnant person’s right to an abortion.
The town board’s resolution calls for safe and legal access to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. Viability is determined by a medical professional, but it’s generally around 24 weeks of gestation.
After Town Supervisor Ann M. Carvill read the resolution, Councilor Toni A. Kennedy offered to move it to a vote and Councilor Alissa T. Hardiman seconded the motion.
After saying he’s “not a politician,” Councilor Marty G. Miller went on to say, “I guess tonight I’m the voice for the ones who are never going to see life because of this.”
“You’re taking something that’s got a heartbeat and you’re never allowing it to live what we’re living. I don’t see it,” he said.
The Times on Wednesday morning reached out to Mr. Miller to clarify what he meant by “heartbeat.”
“I’m not a doctor. There is actually a heartbeat after three to four weeks of pregnancy,” he said over the phone.
The term “heartbeat” is controversial within abortion debates. An anti-abortion argument is that a heartbeat can be detected at six weeks of gestation, which is still the embryonic stage. “Heartbeat” is often used as a legal term, rather than a medical term. States including Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Iowa have so-called “heartbeat bills” banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, but judges under Roe had blocked them.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in a factcheck.org article says that what “is interpreted as a heartbeat … is actually electrically-induced flickering of a portion of the fetal tissue that will become the heart as the embryo develops. Thus, ACOG does not use the term ‘heartbeat’ to describe these legislative bans on abortion because it is misleading language, out of step with the anatomical and clinical realities of that stage of pregnancy.”
The article goes on to say that the majority of heart development occurs after around nine to 10 weeks, and an audible heartbeat usually can’t be detected with a stethoscope until around 20 to 22 weeks. The complete article can be read at wdt.me/Ec2vVe.
Also on Wednesday morning, Mr. Miller said he feels the town board introducing and passing a “pro-choice” resolution was “distasteful” and “political grandstanding.”
“If they want to have their (abortion rights) rallies and parades, that’s fine. Everyone has that right. To have that on a town board agenda, it’s not about the real issue. It’s about the individual saying, ‘Look at me, look at what I brought to the board. I want to be recognized because I brought this forward,’” he said.
Mr. Miller says he makes decisions “with my heart” and wants “to do what’s right for the people of the town of Potsdam.”
“Imagine how those unborn children feel, because their rights are getting taken away from them when abortion is performed,” he said.
He added that after Tuesday night’s meeting, he received “quite a few emails” supporting him for publicly sharing his stance.
“If I get pushback for my feelings on this, that would be shameful … I’m not pushing back on anyone wanting full rights,” he said.
During the Tuesday night meeting, no members of the Potsdam town board offered counterpoints to Mr. Miller’s arguments. Ms. Carvill thanked him for speaking up and giving his opinion.
“I think in our society I have to respect people who think life starts at conception. That’s a deeply felt belief. And then there are others who think there should be choice. It’s not a bridge that can be traversed if you’re on one side or another,” the supervisor said.
The town board’s resolution has eight supporting points, including quoting the United Nations Human Rights Council as saying “comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortion, are necessary to guarantee the right to life, health, privacy and non-discrimination for women and girls.”
It also says “bans on abortions will have a significant, negative impact on the health of pregnant individuals, with the worst of these impacts being borne by marginalized groups, including those living in economic poverty and by Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and the LGBTQ community,” and “denying access to health care services that only women require, including abortion, is linked to discrimination and constitutes gender-based violence.”
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(1) comment
Virtue signalling. The state is the one with the power to take actual action. Maybe. With a change of the political winds at the federal level we'll soon have a fugitive mothers act, and New York won't be able to stop the mom-catchers from coming in and reclaiming their property.
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