Sabrina* had been experiencing abuse at the hands of her husband for almost a decade when she and her two young children came to a Women’s Aid member refuge in England. Whilst in the refuge, Sabrina discovered that she was pregnant. She went to the hospital for her first scan, where she was given a date for when her third baby’s arrival was expected. Sabrina wept at the news – tears of anxiety and worry about how she was going to cope financially when she eventually moved out of the refuge.
Sabrina knew that, because of the two-child limit, she would struggle to bring a third baby into the world. She couldn’t bear the thought of having to tell the government how the child was conceived – out of abuse and fear – in order to get the money she was entitled to.
Soon, she packed her family’s bag with the few belongings they had and returned to the home she had shared with her abuser, utterly defeated.
* All names have been changed.
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