Image source, bbc

The UK government has been accused of forcing victims of rape to endure further trauma, making women "prove" they have been raped to receive child benefits.

A campaign group - Scrap The Rape Clause, external - was set up by SNP MP Alison Thewliss and a petition calling on the government to abandon the plans was signed by 10,000 people.

Ms Thewliss wrote: "I believe that women having to prove that they had been raped to DWP employees in order to receive social security payments is morally wrong and would cause needless additional trauma, as well as being completely unworkable in practice."

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Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton says the UK government hast tried to restore fairness to the welfare system.

The social security minister tries to intervene, but like Adam Tomkins and Ruth Davidson before her, she declines to take any interventions.

Ms Hamilton says the SNP have used the policy to demonise the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

She says the government is debating an exemption to the two child tax credit cap when it already has the power to top up child tax credits.

Ms Hamilton asks if the Scottsh government will finally use the powers that have been granted to them.

The 'rape clause' states that a woman can claim for a third or subsequent child if it was conceived "as a result of a sexual act which you didn't or couldn't consent to" or "at a time when you were in an abusive relationship, under ongoing control or coercion by the other parent of the child".

A woman cannot claim this exemption if she lives with the other parent of the child.

However, it states she can qualify whether or not there has been a court case or conviction of a criminal offence.

The advice from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is that women affected should get support from women's aid, Victim Support or Rape Crisis.

The DWP said it would operate a "third-party model", external so that women did not have to describe the details to a member of its staff.

Instead, women would talk to healthcare professionals, a social worker or an approved rape charity.

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SNP MSP Ruth Maguire says noone will be surprised to hear that the two child cap impacts disproportionately on women and chilldren.

Ms Maguire says the 'rape clause' is the "most detestable part of a generally loathsome policy".

She says, referring to Jackson Carlaw's comments at the weekend, that the clause is "not awkward presiding officer it is shamefully abhorrent".

The SNP MSP says the Tories have tried to deflect blame and responsibility for the 'rape clause' onto the Scottish government, asking the people of Scotland to pay twice for social security. 

Image source, Alison Thewlis

The move was announced two years ago by the then Chancellor George Osborne.

The UK government said it wanted to limit child tax credit to the first two children because it wanted "people on benefits to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work".

Exemptions to the changes were announced for those;

• adopting children
• those involved in kinship care
• and for multiple births.

There was also an exception for a child born as a result of "non-consensual conception", external. This is the so-called 'rape clause'.

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Labour MSP Claire Baker calls for the removal of the family cap and the scrapping of the 'rape clause'.

Ms Baker says the family cap is a burden that falls disproportionately on women and children.

The Labour MSP says the UK government must listen to Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women's Aid when they say the 'rape clause' will lead to a highly traumatic experience and call for it to be scrapped.

She says disclosure of a rape to a third party leaves a woman open to repercussions.

There is no training or support of the third party in this process, she says and points out Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women's Aid will not act as third parties.

Image source, Getty Images

Campaigners have been fighting the measures since they were announced in the Budget in 2015 but they only came into effect on 6 April.

A number of high-profile opposition politicians have rounded on the UK government over the policy and rallies have been held calling for the clause to be scrapped.

SNP MSP Ben Macpherson says the policy is based entirely on a misguided assumption. 

Mr Macpherson asks "how people can take such a callous approach to other people."

The SNP MSP says this policy has been pushed through without any evidence that it will meet its aims. 

He says the family cap and the rape clause within it is not only immoral but is also illogical. 

Mr Macpherson says calls on MSPs from every party to do what is right and vote against this "appalling policy". 

The child tax credit is a benefit to help with the cost of raising a child. Parents and carers might be able to get them if their children are under 16 or, if they are in eligible training, up to the age of 20.

The amount they are given depends on their income, how many children are living with them and their childcare costs.

It can be worth up to £2,780 per year for each child.

Child Tax Credit, external is one of the six benefits that are being phased out and replaced by Universal Credit, external.

The two-child policy will also apply to the new "Child Element" of Universal Credit.

Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton says his party supports the government motion and the Labour and Green amendments.

Mr Cole-Hamilton says this "abhorrent policy" would have been in the statute for years had his party not blocked it previously. 

He says there is national outrage about child poverty which affects 250,000 children or more and it is rising. 

Labour MSP Neil Findlay intervenes to ask if Mr Cole-Hamilton thinks even one Tory will go against their party and vote against this.

Mr Cole-Hamilton says he hopes so but he very much doubts it and that "such a policy has no place in a civilised society." 

SNP MSP Sandra White says she is a member of large family and sometimes they had to rely on free school meals and help from friends despite being hard working.

She says the reson she is struggling with this "barbaric, disgusting, disgraceful policy" is that it would have left her family "poverty stricken".

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The SNP MSP says the Tories should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for not sticking up for the people of this country.

Ms White says if the Tory MSPs stand by the 'rape clause' they are not reasonable people and she asks how they can possibly defend this.

She says the Tories should be ashamed of themselves.

Tory MSP Adam Tomkins says survivors of rape have "been to hell and back" and that it is a turmoil that "most of us cannot imagine". He says to say this is a sensitive subject "does not begin to cut it."

The Tory MSP says one of the responsibilities of a government is to manage the nation's finances but that the outgoing Labour government left the nation with no money.

Mr Tomkins says getting the country's finances under control is "the right thing to do" as is restoring fairness in the benefits system.

He says the two-children cap is only for new claimants and existing claimants will not see their tax credits reduced.

"We have the power to top up any reserved benefit if that's what we choose to do," he says. 

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SNP MSP Christina McKelvie says the Tories are showing the worst kind of social engineering.

Ms McKelvie says the so-called 'rape clause' is the most disgusing thing yet from the Tories

The SNP MPS says it is a "barbaric assault on women".

She calls on MSPs to imagine having to fill out an eight page form having been raped to "allow the state to snoop into the deepest recesses of your hurt and trauma".

The SNP MSP says the clause is  a "deliberate calculated attack on women and their human rights" and calls for it to be scrapped.

Ms Johnstone says removing "this control risks re-traumatising women who have been through rape."

The Green MSP says the Scottish government has the powers to make something bad less severe. 

She says the Scottish Parliament is not there to mitigate the policies of the UK government.