The Women on Platform Two

In early 1970s Dublin, women couldn’t legally buy any contraception. A few hours away, in Belfast, birth control could be purchased legally under British law. In May 1971, activists from the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement boarded what became known as the “contraceptive train,” traveling to buy birth control and bring them back across the border in open defiance. This very real protest is the historical spark behind this story. In 1969, Maura married a doctor. Every girl’s dream come true, she left her job at the fancy Dublin department store and set out to be the perfect wife, with an exquisite home and was excited to be a mother. Sadly, this was not to be the case. Even though their lives looked picture perfect, Dr. Davenport was not who he appeared to be. Maura’s best friend Bernie tried to help but there was little a woman could do to escape the clutches of a marital nightmare. In 2023, Saoirse (pronounced Seer-sha) runs out of her tiny apartment leaving her fiancé begging for answers. He is a loving, wonderful man but desperate to start a family and Saoirse does not think motherhood is in her future. When Saoirse boards the train from Dublin to Belfast it is for a quick get away to figure out this mess she has made. On the train Saoirse meets Maura who is taking her annual celebratory ride to stroll down memory lane and honor her beloved friends who bought that first ticket to freedom 52 years earlier. These women were fighting for the future of all women and their right to choose. Shocking that this was not that long ago and more shocking that women are still fighting for these rights today. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐