Hush-A-Bye-Baby was co-written by Margo Harkin and Stephanie English.  The film was Harkin’s directorial debut, shot on 16mm film in Derry and Donegal, Northern Ireland.  The story is set in Derry in 1984 and was influenced by the Ireland first referendum on abortion in 1983.  The film tackles the issues of an unwanted teenage pregnancy and the oppression of women’s rights under the Catholic Church. This film is not only about the right’s denied a woman seeking an abortion but it also focuses on the attitudes of ignorance that girls have towards their sexuality brought on by strict Catholic doctrine. 

The film reflects the true story of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Anne Lovett who died giving birth in a field next to a statue of the Virgin Mary.  Fidelma Farley wrote an article examining the reasons for this tragic event.  Farley feels a paradox between the two “unwed” mothers, while one is sanctified and adored; the other is isolated and ashamed.  Anne Lovett didn’t confide her pregnancy to her mother but turned to a statue that idealizes motherhood, yet the church demoralizes women who find themselves pregnant and unwed.

Hush-A-Bye-Baby is a the story about a 15 year old schoolgirl, Goretti Friel and her three of her good friends, all living in the Catholic ghetto in Derry, Northern Ireland.  Goretti meets Ciarán at an Irish language class and a romance begins.  Ciarán is arrested and sent to prison, and Goretti finds herself pregnant and alone.  Vowing to tell her parents after Christmas about the baby, Goretti turns to the Virgin Mary for comfort.  Through out the film there are reoccurring images of the Virgin Mary, which she begins to notice all around her and they even come to her in her dreams.  Their Catholic up bringing catches Goretti and her friends between the freedom of their sexuality and their repression of their sexuality.  Goretti tries to miscarry by drinking a concoction of gin and castor oil, naïvely she wonders if a miscarriage is the same as an abortion, the latter being classified as murder.

The legality of abortion is still an issue today

The end of the movie leaves the audience with a bit of a mystery.  Is she miscarrying or is she in labour?  

The legality of abortion is still an issue today in Ireland and I feel that films such as Hush-A-Bye-Baby tackle these social issues bringing woman’s rights to the forefront. 

Interestingly while writing this blog, I thought of the bills being passed in the United States today, Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans federal funding for international health organizations that perform abortions—or even provide information about them in their family planning services.

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Sources:
Farley, Fidelma.  Interrogating Myths of Maternity in Irish Cinema: Margo Harkin’s “Hush-A-Bye-Baby.”  Irish University Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 Fall-Winter 1999. P 219-237

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0itR92g6EwY