Demo: SNP MP Alison Thewliss has stood up against the ‘rape clause’ before.

Scots have organised a swift response to Esther McVey’s defence of the ‘rape clause’ at Holyrood earlier this week.

If you don’t know what she said and why it was so despicable, you need to read this article.

The quick version is: Esther McVey provoked outrage by claiming that forcing rape survivors to recount their ordeal in order to access benefits will give them an ‘opportunity to talk’.

Here’s the response from the people of Scotland – and This Site approves most strongly:

Activists are stepping up the pressure on the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to scrap the rape clause.

A demonstration will be held on Thursday 19 April at 5.30pm, on The Mound, Edinburgh, one year on since its implementation.

It comes as work and pensions secretary Esther McVey told the Scottish parliament’s social security committee that the rape clause “provided an opportunity” for sexual assault victims and described victims talking about their rape to DWP staff as offering “potentially double support.”

An organiser responsible the protest said: “Esther McVey’s appearance in front of the Scottish Parliament’s Social Security Committee, illustrated the alarming lack of understanding about the complexities and reality of sexual violence. No woman should be forced to choose between disclosing rape possibly for the first time ever and poverty. It is a disgrace.”

Alison Thewliss MP, who has campaigned against the clause from the beginning, said that charities and other agencies have warned that these measures will push thousands into poverty, and be hugely damaging to women.

Source: Rape clause protest to take place in Edinburgh

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