I can imagine desperation it would take to write my baby’s name in that box
Women’s charities horrified by cruel Tory policy
CAMPAIGNERS voiced their fury yesterday as the Government released the form which reveals the brutal reality of the Tories’ child tax credit “rape clause”.
Women who get pregnant as a result of rape will have to fill in the new eight-page form to prove it before being granted payments for more than two children.
The form reduces the traumatic step of disclosing rape to a simple box-ticking exercise.
Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said: “Seeing the form brings us a fresh sense of outrage.
“What has been a theoretical kind of discussion is now very personal.
“I found myself thinking how I would feel if I were a woman filling out a form like that.
“I cannot imagine writing my baby’s name in that box.
“And even worse, I CAN imagine the desperation it would take to make me consider it.
“When and how we stop this cruel policy is still on our minds of course – and now I want some accountability for the officials who thought it was ‘sensitive’ to make that form.”
The form asks women to report to a third party to qualify for the payment – but organisations on the approved Government list of those who can take disclosures have refused to co-operate.
Women’s Aid Scotland and Rape Crisis Scotland have said they will not be used as gatekeepers between poverty and a victim’s access to welfare payments. Sandy Brindley, of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “When you look at the form, it is horrendous what we are asking women to do.
“The thought of having to approach a third-party organisation and have the truth of a rape verified is one of the worst things that could be done to women in that position.
“If we had agreed to co-operate, we were expected to find out the date of conception and work out if it was consistent with the time of rape.
“We were expected to get a calculator out during a support session with women. It is just awful.”
Brindley said the clause reveals an attitude with the starting point that women lie about rape.
The form says a child born as a result of a “coercive or controlling relationship” would also be covered.
But it demands that women prove the relationship was coercive – ignoring the fact that victims are largely isolated and forced to keep abuse hidden behind closed doors.
The DWP also want women to prove that they have been coerced “on at least two occasions” and they cannot still be living with an abusive partner when they apply.