Ireland is sandwiched between two media giants, America and Britain, whose legal stance on abortion is completely different to ours. We rarely see our countries particular predicament portrayed on screen.

This summer, Irish filmmaker Tom Ryan brought the reality of Irish women travelling to England for abortions to the big screen in his film Twice Shy. Post-Leaving Cert, in a pub in Tipperary, Andy asks Maggie to the debs.

Some three years later, he’s driving her to the airport, so that she can fly to London for an abortion. Flashbacks fill us in on the rise and fall of their relationship. It’s a bonafide road trip movie, only with an abortion at the end. Mid-journey, Andy is horrified to learn that Maggie is travelling alone to London and planning to stay in a hostel dorm room. But this is the reality of Irish women who need abortions, how can she afford anything else?

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