25.02.13
UKBA ‘failing’ pregnant asylum seekers
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is endangering the health of some pregnant women seeking asylum, a new report warns.
Produced by Maternity Action and the Refugee Council, the report highlights the dangers of moving women too close to their due date, moving mothers to new accommodation multiple times and separating the mother from the father of the baby.
Interviews of 20 women and 17 midwives demonstrate that pregnant asylum seekers often have high-risk pregnancies due to serious physical and mental health conditions. However UKBA’s relocations can separate these women from specialist treatment.
Maternity Action director Rosalind Bragg said: “It is high time the UKBA recognised asylum-seeking women as being a particularly vulnerable group with complex needs, and urgently ensure their policies reflect this.”
Shan Nicholas, interim chief executive at the Refugee Council, said: “We work with pregnant women every day who have been ripped away from their families and healthcare, causing undue distress and health problems at what should be an exciting and positive time of their lives.
“The UKBA must stop sending pregnant women to live in new cities unless all risks have been considered and adequate healthcare arrangements have been made.”
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said “Our society is failing these women and their babies.”
The RCM’s director for Midwifery, Louise Silverton, added: “The RCM wants the UK Border Agency to adopt the HM Inspector of Prisons’ recommendation and honour the ethos of the Home Office Minister’s assurance that the practice of using force, including restraint against pregnant women and children in the criminal justice system will stop.
“Midwives must serve all mothers and babies regardless of their immigration status.”
A UKBA spokesman responded: “We consider every case individually and, wherever possible, women in the latter stages of pregnancy will not be moved to a different area. Last year we introduced a revised pregnancy dispersal policy which includes a commitment to not move any pregnant woman during the four weeks before or after her due date.”
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