The non-consensual conception exemption to the two-child limit – or the ‘rape clause’
There are limited exemptions to the two-child limit in universal credit, one of which is if the child has been conceived non-consensually, either due to rape or coercive control. In that situation, the woman who has experienced this abuse has to disclose it in order to get vital support for her child. Since the two-child limit was introduced in 2017, this has been one of the most harmful, insidious aspects of an already deeply damaging policy.
Women should not be punished by the social security system because they have conceived a child through rape or coercion. Reproductive control is a known component of domestic abuse, meaning it is unsurprising that some women who have been in abusive relationships may have a number of children.
And while the rape clause is an attempt to ensure that women who need additional support can access it, the reality is that the clause is retraumatising, damaging and an often ineffective means by which women can seek to secure support. The only way to properly protect women, and to get rid of the rape clause, is to fully scrap the two-child limit.
CPAG is representing two mothers in their ongoing legal challenge to the rules on what is known as the non-consensual conception exemption or ‘the rape clause’. In the most recent decision in the cases, the judge described the histories of our clients as ‘chilling accounts of appalling domestic abuse’ but considered that the two-child limit and the exemptions constituted a ‘deliberate policy choice’ made by parliament. The judge added that ‘the limitation of the exemptions is part of the definition of the two-child limit’. The judge concluded that the issue of the two-child limit must be resolved ‘in the political arena’.
As part of CPAG’s legal work and wider work on this policy, we have been in contact with a number of women who have either been denied access to support because they are not eligible under the current rules, or have experienced difficulties accessing support even where they are eligible. This briefing shares some of this evidence.