Important:

This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament

Rejected petition We ask the government to delay the implementation of the so-called “rape clause”

The “rape clause” has never been debated in Parliament and was added to the legislation as an amendment. It creates a “2-child” policy by demanding that a new mother who has been raped "verify" this fact if she needs to claim tax credits for more than 2 children.

More details

No woman should have to prove that her child is the result of rape in order to be eligible to claim tax credits. We urge the government to delay the implementation of this clause, at least until it has been debated in Parliament.

Further information can be found at

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/mar/16/tax-credit-clause-becomes-law-without-parliament-vote

and

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/17/rape-rule-tax-credits-rights-children-sex-crime

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

https://moderate.petition.parliament.uk/admin/petitions/191372

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.