“Doonby” is a low budget film set to premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Set in the 1960’s in a small American town, “Doonby” explores the issues surrounding abortion. The film has already attracted controversy when the Hollywood Reporter revealed that the plaintiff in the Roe vs Wade case, which lead to abortion being legalised in America, played a part in the movie.

Norma McCorvey used the name Jane Roe, when she went to court to force the Texas authorities to allow her to abort her third child. The case eventually ended up in the Supreme Court, who ruled that no State had the right to make abortion illegal. The ruling has resulted in more than 50 million babies being aborted in America.

However, years after the Roe vs Wade case, McCorvey converted to Catholicism and became a strong advocate in the anti-abortion pro-life movement.

The film is set in the 1960’s whilst abortion was still illegal, and many women sought out back-street abortions. Jenn Gotzen plays a young party lover who finds herself pregnant. In seeking to abort the child, she is advised to speak to an older woman (played by McCorvey) who seeks to dissuade her from terminating her pregnancy. The movie carries a strong pro-life message, often overlooked in the liberal dominated media.