A Labour MP who has previously disclosed she is a victim of grooming, has called for a change in the law to protect children who are born as a result of rape.
Natalie Fleet welcomed the series of local reviews into grooming gangs announced by the Home Secretary on Thursday, but pressed for further protections for those who have a child with their groomer.
In the Commons, Yvette Cooper said family courts should not be “used by abusers and rapists to persecute victims” and agreed to meet Ms Fleet to discuss the issue further.
Ms Fleet told GB News in July last year how she became pregnant at the age of 15 after being “groomed” by an older man.
“I didn’t know we were having unprotected sex. I was a child and this is statutory rape,” the Bolsover MP said at the time.
In an emotional address to Parliament on Thursday, Ms Fleet described the experience of a woman who is being prevented from speaking out after being threatened by her groomer.
She told MPs: “I welcome this action from a Government that sees violence against women and girls as the national emergency that it is, with a Prime Minister, a Home Secretary and a safeguarding minister with records of taking action to deliver for victims like me and many in my constituency.
“Giving birth as the result of grooming is a story that far too many of us share, and there are so many reasons why children and the women that they grow into don’t speak out.
“I want to share one particular story today, it’s about the victim that told me that the perpetrator has threatened that if she speaks out he will have access to her child, something he hasn’t done so far.
“That means that she has to work so hard to hide his crime, to protect herself, and her baby.
“Will the Home Secretary meet with me and other victims to talk about how we discuss a change in the law to protect children born of rape?”
The Home Secretary replied: “Can I thank (Ms Fleet) for that incredibly important point and also for the very shocking and disturbing story that she has told of victims continuing to be silenced, having already been through the most traumatic experiences and then continuing to be silenced in order to protect the children.
“Even though what actually needs to happen is that perpetrators need to be held to account and need to face the full force of the law.
“She is right that we need to ensure that family courts cannot be used by abusers and rapists to persecute victims, I will happily meet her.”
