Still Voices Short Film Festival

The Vasectomy Doctor

Dr. Andrew Rynne was the first doctor to perform vasectomies in Ireland; he estimates that he has performed over 35,000. This is a distinction that did not come without controversy in the extremely Catholic Ireland of the nineteen seventies and eighties, but Dr. Rynne persevered in the face of opposition from the church. In the eighties, he challenged the restrictive laws on contraceptives by selling condoms without a prescription. He got his day in court and forced the government to change policy. In 1990, Dr. Rynne was about to perform a vasectomy on a patient, when a gunman entered his surgery and shot him. After surviving the attempt on his life, he would later meet with his assailant and forgive him.

Director Bio

Paul Webster is an Irish award-winning producer, writer and director. Following his graduation of the MA program in Production and Direction at the John Huston School of Film and Media in Galway he went on to work in production for Element Pictures and later as script editor Fair City, he is now a regular writer on the popular soap.