Domestic Abuse Bill Response

I completely understand what an emotive issue this is, having received a large volume of letters regarding this topic and I appreciate there are always strong feelings on both sides of the argument. Regarding the proposed abortion amendments, NC28 was seeking to allow home abortions to take place permanently, if a woman was in an abusive relationship and NC29 sought to repeal 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act, allowing abortions to take place up to 28 weeks. I am sure you are aware that during the Third Reading of the Bill in the commons on July 6th the Speaker deemed NC29 out of scope and NC28 was withdrawn by Diana Johnson MP, who tabled the amendment, as the Government concluded that the right way forward is to undertake a public consultation on whether to make permanent the current Covid-19 measures. 
  
I welcome the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Bill to Parliament. The Bill will create a legal definition of domestic abuse to provide clarity that domestic abuse can be financial, verbal and emotional as well as physical and sexual and that critically it is about patterns of abuse over time. As part of this definition, children will be explicitly recognised as victims if they witness abuse. The Government is going further than ever before to tackle this hidden crime; including working at pace to understand the impact of Covid-19 on victims and specialist support services. The Domestic Abuse Bill will improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice. The Bill is now in the Lords having had its Commons Report stage and Third Reading on 6 July.      
  
Measures in the Bill also include the introduction of new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices and Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to further protect victims and place restrictions on the actions of offenders. I welcome the fact that the Bill will invalidate any courtroom defence of consent where a victim suffers serious harm or is killed.    
  
Furthermore, the government are providing additional funding to domestic abuse organisations to ensure that they can continue to support victims at this time. A Domestic Abuse Commissioner has also been appointed 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.