Campaign reply - Domestic Abuse Bill

The Domestic Abuse bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019, following a commitment in the Conservative Party manifesto to ’Support all victims of domestic abuse and pass the Domestic Abuse Bill’ The Bill aims to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that the state will do everything it can, both to support them and their children and pursue the abuser. 

What is the Bill going to do? 

Raise awareness and understanding about the devastating impact of domestic abuse on victims and their families.  

Improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice 

Strengthen the support for victims of abuse by statutory agencies.  

Victoria Atkins – Minister for Safeguarding: 

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime perpetrated on victims and their families by those who should love and care for them. This landmark Bill will help transform the response to domestic abuse, helping to prevent offending, protect victims and ensure they have the support they need.  

The Bill will: 

Create a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that domestic abuse is not just physical violence, but can also be coercive or controlling, emotional, and economic abuse.  

Establish a Domestic Abuse Commissioner, to stand up for victims and survivors, raise public awareness, monitor the response of local authorities the justice system and other statutory agencies and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse.  

Provide for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order 

Place a duty on local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation. 

Prohibit perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the family courts in England and Wales 

Create a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal courts – for example enabling them to give evidence via video link 

Enable domestic abuse offenders to be subject to polygraph testing as a condition of their licence following their release from custody.  

Place the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ‘Clare’s law’ on a statutory footing.  

Ensure that where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy this must be a secure lifetime tenancy.  

Extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to further violent sexual offences.  

End the ‘rough sex’ defence - A very significant milestone in ending violence against women.  

Diana Johson Amendments: 

Two amendments had been tabled by Diana Johnson MP (Labour) to the landmark Domestic Abuse Bill that would have made the most extreme changes to abortion legislation since 1967. 

Clause 28 sought to make home abortions legal for victims of domestic abuse. 

Clause 29 sought to repeal sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Act (1861) which would have removed non-clinically approved abortion from criminal law. 

Clause 28 has now been withdrawn and Clause 29 was not selected by the speaker.  

If these Clauses had gone to a vote, I would have opposed them.  

My reasons below: 

By removing the requirement for an in-person consultation, it would have been difficult for doctors to ascertain if abuse or coercion was involved and prevented the abused from seeking professional help.  Routine enquiry into domestic abuse has been a fundamental part of the skills and practice of every health professional for many years and ensures that every woman who attends for advice about abortion has the opportunity to disclose abuse they may be experiencing.  These clauses would likely have resulted in a far greater number of women being coerced or forced into an unwanted abortion without the means to speak to a professional, who are trained to pick up on subtle hints and signs. 

I believe that the focus of this Bill should be on protecting those who suffer from domestic abuse, which is the motivation behind this Bill. Bringing forward broad, sweeping changes to abortion legislation would have distracted from this focus and this is not the place to do this.