"October Baby": A Film That Promotes a Culture of Life
“I couldn’t believe something so small could have such power over me.”
Hannah’s father says these words about Hannah, his newborn daughter. After watching the movie, I can’t get these words out of my head.
A couple weeks back, I watched October Baby, a movie that my school teacher recommended that I watch. When I first heard of the title, October Baby, I thought it sounded boring and like a waste of time. However, I decided to give it a try and learned that I was wrong. In this month’s blog, I am going to write about this inspiring movie that made me laugh and cry my eyes out.
October Baby is about a 19-year old high school student, Hannah, who is born with childhood epilepsy. One day, because of escalating health and mental problems, her parents tell her that her health condition is due to what happened at her birth: she was born as a result of a failed abortion. She learns that her parents adopted her and never told her this truth because they did not want her to be heartbroken. Shocked and confused, Hannah sets out on a spring road trip with her best friend, Jason, to search for her real parents and find out who she is and where she came from. They embark to Mobile, Alabama where they find a nurse who had been her birth mother’s nurse during the abortion procedure. The nurse tells her where her mother is and Hannah immediately goes to see her birth mother. Hannah expects her mother to welcome her and tell her the truth; instead, her mother pretends to not recognize her and leaves her hanging. Hannah’s condition exacerbates as she feels alone and unwanted. However, with love from Jason and her family, she gets better and realizes that she has a family in the present and that her past does not matter. She becomes stronger and forgives her birthmother. She understands that her mother was in a very difficult situation when she decided to abort her.
I cried a lot watching the movie because I felt sympathy towards Hannah. I imagined if I were to be told that I was born as a result of a failed abortion, to be told that my real parents tried to terminate me, and/or that I was a mistake. I knew that like Hannah, I would be heartbroken and would want to find out who my real parents are and where I really came from.
This movie also strengthened my beliefs in being pro-life. I knew that all life is sacred and important. After seeing Hannah’s situation, I knew that everyone deserves to live; no one should be thought as a mistake. I thought to myself: what if the abortion had been successful and Hannah was not born? Hannah is such a smart, beautiful, and talented young women. It would have been sad, unfair, and cruel to not have her in this world. I remember this scene when the nurse tells Hannah about her regrets performing the abortion procedure. She had told herself that the preborn was just tissue - it was not alive. But when she saw Hannah born after the failed abortion, she knew this was untrue, “I didn’t see non-viable tissue. I saw the face of a child.” These words rang deep into my heart and made me tear up. Hannah did not deserve to be aborted; she deserved to be recognized as a human-being.
Moral of the movie: At the end of the day, everyone deserves to be born and no life is a mistake. We must learn all to love another and accept them into this world.
I recommend you to watch this movie; be prepared to have tissues!
You can watch October Baby on Netflix or on DVD.