Birth Control

In the not-too-distant future the government passes the Reproduction Act, essentially requiring a licence to be obtained before couples can have children. They hope to reduce teen pregnancies and children being born of single or unfit parents. All males are made temporarily sterile and will only be reversed after certain requirements are met, such as income, relationship status, and no criminal record as well as completing a parenting course. Annie is recently divorced from her abusive husband, but is craving the child she always wanted. Reluctant to re-marry her friend Kim tells her to buy a sample of sperm on the black market and have a child by herself. Annie isn’t sure due to the criminal aspect, but decides to take the risk. After inseminating herself with illegal sperm, she is arrested and sentenced to a year in prison, but soon becomes pregnant. Knowing she will have her child taken from her due to her criminal record, Kim tries everything to adopt it, but she’s unable to. After Annie gives birth, her baby is taken away. Young couple Felicity and Steven have been granted their licence and are currently trying for a baby, however after several tries and IVF treatment they are unsuccessful. They realise adoption is their only option. Annie is released from prison and has joined a protest group against the Reproduction Act, claiming it is God who decides who can or can’t have children, not Man. She is given information by the group’s leader who has learned of the couple who adopted her baby. Annie visits the couple who turn out to be Felicity and Steven and manages to talk her way into their home claiming to be from social services. As Felicity is pre-occupied in the kitchen, Annie finally gets to meet her baby. When Felicity returns to the living room, she finds Annie and the baby gone. As the news reports on police searching for Annie, Felicity makes a desperate plea for her child’s return. Annie does not hear her words as she is hiding in a tent in the woods tending to her baby.