“He realised that this wasn’t a film to bash the Catholic church. The local priest permitted filming on church grounds after being shown the script, said Creagh. Instead of Granard, where memories remain fraught, the film was shot in Boyle, County Roscommon. It cost €200,000 (£177,000) and was backed by the national broadcaster, RTE, and private investors in the US. Lovett had concealed her pregnancy – relatives, neighbours and teachers all later said they were unaware – and carried the baby to full term.Īnn, which was released in Ireland on 28 April, is the first screen dramatisation. The tragedy humanised the dilemma faced by girls and women who were pregnant and not married, a social taboo. One reason Lovett’s death had such impact in Ireland was that it came only five months after a referendum had enshrined an abortion ban in the constitution. The government has not taken a decision, and anti-abortion activists oppose any relaxation, but the fact Ireland is considering further liberalisation is a dramatic contrast to the US, where several states have made abortion prohibited or inaccessible. Last month, a government-commissioned review of the legislation and services, conducted by a barrister, Marie O’Shea, recommended relaxing some rules, including a three-day wait between requesting an abortion and accessing one. Ireland voted overwhelmingly in a 2018 referendum to lift the ban, paving abortion services in 2019. “There was no way people could not be moved by it – how young she was, how isolated.” Individual stories such as Lovett’s fuelled the campaign to lift a near-total constitutional ban on abortion, said Favier. “It was the first time we thought ‘We have to do something differently.’ You couldn’t say it galvanised the movement but it clarified the need for a movement.” “It was hugely influential,” said Mary Favier, a GP and co-founder of the advocacy group Global Doctors for Choice. The film Ann, directed by Ciaran Creagh, has revived interest in Lovett’s case and its role in Ireland’s transformation from conservative Catholicism to secular liberalism. A new film has put Lovett’s story on cinema screens at the same time as an official report has recommended a loosening of abortion rules. By the time she was discovered and taken to hospital it was too late.įour decades later, the shocking case continues to haunt Ireland – and colour attitudes to abortion. Lovett’s own life slowly bled out of her. Lovett cut the umbilical cord and wrapped the baby boy, who was dead, in her coat.
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