Some 900 women have had to register details of their rape ordeals to gain benefits for children born under “non consensual conception”, shocking new figures have shown.
The UK government’s own statistics reveal the effect of the humiliating “rape clause” that only allows women to claim benefit for a third child if they prove they were conceived without consent.
The statistics also show that close on one million children in working families are on the breadline as a result of limiting benefits to two children per family.
New figures published by the Department of Work and Pensions have revealed that 911,190 children have lost access to vital financial support since April 2017.
Meanwhile 900 women have been forced to disclose that their child was conceived of rape in order to access vital funds.
SNP MP Alison Thewliss, who campaigned against the rape clause when it was first introduced by then chancellor George Osborne in 2015, described the figures as shocking and “beyond cruel”.
Thewliss, the SNP Treasury spokeswoman said: “Today’s figures reveal the devastating impact of the Tories two child limit on families across the UK. Close to one million children are now suffering hardship, most of them in families where their parents are working. "
“Even more shocking is the revelation that 900 women have now made a claim under the “non-consensual conception exemption”, better known as the rape clause. It is beyond cruel to force women to fill out a form to prove their child has been born as the result of rape, just to put food on the table.”
The Glasgow Central MP challenged the Prime Minister to scrap the abhorrent policy.
She added: “This is a horrific legacy for any government. It’s time for Boris Johnson to wake up to this reality, signal a change of direction on welfare and scrap this pernicious Tory policy.
“Covid-19 has exposed the huge gaps in the social security safety net. The UK Government must now protect children and their families and scrap the two child limit, and the pernicious rape clause which stands part of it.”
