The MP fights to strip rapists’ parental rights in a powerful campaign rooted in her own trauma. Labour’s Natalie Fleet, MP for Bolsover, revealed she became pregnant at 15 after statutory rape yet was blamed instead of protected. Now, she’s pushing to amend UK law so convicted rapists lose access to their children.
Therefore, fleet grew up in Nottinghamshire, where an older man groomed her as a teenager. “He told me everything a young girl wants to hear,” she recalled. But when she became pregnant, his true intentions surfaced. “It was just about him having sex with a girl under 16,” she said.
Furthermore, instead of support, she faced harsh judgment. People told her she’d “ruined her life” and her daughter’s future. For years, she internalized the shame. “I had no reason to question it,” Fleet admitted.
Fleet once believed her past disqualified her from politics. “I can’t be an MP I was a teenage parent,” she told friends. But after winning her seat in 2024, she vowed to speak out. “I’m lucky I can prove what happened,” she said, citing birth certificates and DNA evidence.
Shockingly, she notes, 1 in 4 women endure rape or assault. “It’s part of our story, but we don’t talk about it,” Fleet stressed. Now, the MP fights to strip rapists’ parental rights to protect future victims.
Fleet’s proposed amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill would block rapists from decisions about their children’s lives. They couldn’t access medical records, demand visits, or influence schooling even after prison.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former prosecutor, was stunned the law didn’t already exist. “We can fix this,” he assured her. Even Queen Camilla offered support after Fleet shared her mission at Buckingham Palace.
Also, now a grandmother at 40, Fleet reflects on her journey. “Being a mom at 15 felt like rock bottom,” she said. “But being a ‘Nana’ now? That’s everything.”
She hopes her granddaughter’s generation will ask, “Why did women stay silent?” Her answer: Laws failed them. But as the MP fights to strip rapists’ parental rights, that could finally change.
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