British Abortion Film Wins Prize In Venice

I hate to say bad things about a movie without seeing it, but the data I have on the movie Vera Drake suggests that it is a pro-abort propaganda piece.

It’s also just won a prize at an Italian film festival.

Excerpts from the story:

“Vera Drake,” Mike Leigh’s tough tale of a working-class mother who is caught performing illegal abortions in 1950s England, scooped up the prizes at the Venice Film Festival Saturday, including the coveted Golden Lion.

The film raises difficult questions about abortion in a world where the wealthy have access to discreet and legal abortions and the poor throw themselves on the mercy of practitioners like Drake.

“The audience must walk away with a debate and struggle with it. These things are not black and white,” Leigh said.

Staunton anchors the movie as a working mother who risks her close-knit family’s love after a girl on whom she performs an abortion falls seriously ill and she is jailed.

Somehow, I suspect that the film is more black-and-white than advertised. Given the plot as described, it would be easy for filmmakers to send the clear message that, as regrettable as injuries like this were, they were caused by the era’s “repressive abortion laws,” to which good riddance.

I could be wrong about that, but the odds of a British company spinning the plot in a pro-life direction (i.e., portraying the lead character as a babykiller who injures mothers, too) or even in neutral manner seem to me to be remarkably low.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

13 thoughts on “British Abortion Film Wins Prize In Venice”

  1. I would like to point out that the Sainted Margaret Thatcher was instrumental in getting abortion and homosexuality legalized in the UK. Many “conservatives” think she is some sort of saint.

  2. I don’t believe that is correct. Abortion was legalised here by a Private Member’s Bill, sponsored by David Steel who went on to lead the Liberal Democrats, in the late 1960s. Neither do I recall Margaret Thatcher passing any laws legalising homosexual behaviour – they had already been passed.

  3. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 was one of the last pieces of legislation passed during Mrs Thatcher’s premiership. The Act extends the circumstances under which permits abortion up-to-birth in the case of seriously handicapped children (in practice, a cleft palate has been treated as a serious handicap) and legalises a variety of immoral practices on human embryos.
    Mrs Thatcher was an MP in 1967 and would have had a vote on the original Abortion Bill which (as Edoardo notes) was introduced by David Steel. I don’t know how she voted at the time.

  4. Hmm, must learn to proof-read! The second sentence in the post above should read: “The Act permits abortion up-to-birth in the case of seriously handicapped children (in practice, a cleft palate has been treated as a serious handicap) and legalises a variety of immoral practices on human embryos”. Sorry!

  6. Scientists Find Gene That Controls Type of Earwax in People

    Earwax may not play a prominent part in human history but at least a small role for it has now been found by a team of Japanese researchers.

  7. Valenza’s NeverEnding Search

    This blog, and a few other things my students don’t access all that often, will go right under the … Search. View the most popular pages from any site…

  8. Yahoo improves My Web 2.0

    Yahoo! My Web 2.0 is an extension of the My Web personal search service. My Web 2.0 lets you save your bookmarks and share your bookmarks with family, friends and colleagues. You can also discover new things by browsing what’s popular or interesting to…

  9. Search: Torino Olympic Games Blog – Covering the 2006 Winter

    Valuation Graph for Torino Olympic Games Blog – Covering the 2006 Winter Olympics · Links for Torino Olympic Games Blog – Covering the 2006 Winter Olympics

  10. Planet Perfecto MP3 – Planet Perfecto songs – Planet Perfecto music

    Planet Perfecto From Russia With Love (Solar Stones Red City Remix) mp3. Planet Perfecto Silence (DJ Tiesto’s In Search Of Sunrise Remix) mp3 …

Comments are closed.