Vera Drake

I found this movie to be overwhelmingly emotional for me and I'm not sure why.  The idea of abortion being illegal to me is crazy and this was a perfect time to watch this movie because of all of the politics right now surrounding planned parenthood and the possibility of making abortion illegal again.  I found it so interesting that Vera didn't view it as killing a child but rather "helping" the girls.  She viewed it as them just being in trouble.  In the film, Reg says something about how if you can't feed a child, how can you love it.  I thought that was a different way of viewing it.  I had anticipated him being outraged over Vera's actions, like her son was and maybe dumping Ethel but he didn't...he actually approved of what she was doing.  I also think that the people who are deciding these rights for women in the film and now, are men.  These are people who can't even have a child but still think it's their right to decide when and if a woman has a baby.  Realistically, they shouldn't even have a say.  Also, Vera gets 2.5 years in prison for her first offense.  When she's talking to the other women in jail, it's their second offenses and they only have 6 mos, or a year and a half more than her.  She was used solely for the purpose of making a point and being used a deterrent for future women to help get rid of unwanted pregnancies.