Domestic Abuse News Roundup: w/c 28th March 2022

💊 Reproductive coercion: the lesser-known type of domestic abuse

A BBC survey of 1,000 UK women aged 18-44 found that 50% said they had experienced at least one type of reproductive coercion. This type of coercion includes forcing someone to undergo an unwanted abortion, misleading them about contraceptives, and making someone have unprotected sex.

A midwife specialising in women’s safety, Winnie Porter, claims she knows far too many women who have experienced any type of reproductive coercion. “When is anything going to change?” she asks.

No data is currently recorded by the NHS or Police for reproductive coercion.

⛓️ Vulnerable women, forced into crime by their abusers, unfairly prosecuted

The Centre for Women’s Justice has expressed concern about how vulnerable victims of domestic abuse are forced into crime by their abusive partners. The Criminal Justice system has failed those women by unfairly arresting and prosecuting them.

“It’s not in the public interest to prosecute victims of domestic abuse, who have been coerced or forced into committing an offence, it simply shouldn’t happen. But it does happen, it happens routinely,” says Katy Williams, from the Centre for Women’s Justice.

In 2017, almost 57% of women in prison said they had experienced domestic abuse. However, there is still no official data showing how domestic abuse results in an alleged crime.

🚩 Domestic abuse register will reveal offender’s past to new lovers

Convicted criminals of abuse are to tell police about arrangements with new partners or face a five-year prison term under the Home Secretary’s new “tackling domestic abuse” plan.

Domestic abusers will be placed on a register like sex offenders, allowing police to inform the offender’s new partners about their violent past.

According to this new plan, 3,500 convicted domestic abusers will also be GPS tagged after their release from prison so they can be tracked if they come close by to their ex-partners and victims.

TAKE ACTION!
💌 Join Project Hope, our letter-writing initiative with women in prison so they feel heard and connected – email valerie.williams@sateda.org and she’ll get you started!

Sources: The Telegraph, BBC News

Your weekly domestic abuse news roundup was curated by our volunteer Ekaterina Balueva ✨