A Perthshire mum has been given major backing by a national victim support charity in her campaign to protect pregnant women from domestic abuse.
Nicola Murray, who suffered three miscarriages at the hands of violent ex-partners, is hoping to make ‘Brodie’s Law’ a legal bill.
Her proposal was to go before the roundtable of Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee members on Wednesday, September 28.
However the unavailability of a witness means it will be pushed to a later date.
And her cause has been given a boost as chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, Marsha Scott will also be in attendance in support of her vision.
Nicola said previously that the justice system “unfortunately, fails on many levels when it comes to domestic violence”.
The Stanley native suffered three miscarriages as a result of abuse, leading to the creation of women’s support group Brodie’s Trust.
Then Nicola set up a petition last year to introduce an Unborn Victims of Violence Act – or Brodie’s Law – to create a specific offence to “enable the judiciary to adequately prosecute perpetrators”.
Now she is fighting for the pregnancy of the victim to be treated by law as an aggravating factor, leading to tougher sentences.
Nicola was just six weeks’ pregnant when she miscarried in 2013 after her abusive ex knocked her over with his car in a fit of rage.
Four years after her first miscarriage, Nicola lost a second child after she was allegedly attacked by a new partner.
This time, Nicola knew she was having a boy and marked the loss of her son by naming him Brodie – who the law is named after.
Nicola’s work with countless women in similar situations, via Brodie’s Trust, propelled her to petition the Scottish Parliament in 2021 to campaign for improvements in the law.
She said: “I’m grateful to the committee for taking my petition this far, and I’m very optimistic about the roundtable.
“I’m delighted that Dr Mary Ford Neal will be there, her research on this topic is brilliant and her understanding of this taboo area of domestic abuse is fantastic.
“I’m aware that victim support will also be part of the discussion.
“I’m hoping to be there to watch, childcare depending, but this is one that I can take a back seat with, having already given my evidence in June.
“Pregnancy loss caused by domestic abuse or forced termination is still very taboo, a lot of people don’t want to accept that it happens at all or accept the high figures.”
She added that domestic abuse is on the rise in Scotland for the fifth year running and called it “an epidemic”.
“In my FOI to Police Scotland I found out that since I lost Brodie in 2017 that every day four pregnant women will be the victim of domestic violence,” she said.
“This is why we’re also giving our support and backing to the Domestic Abuse Register Bill launched today by Pam Gosal MSP.
“Pam is calling for a register of domestic abusers much like the sex offenders register.
“In our support group we’ve had women who’ve been victims of the same perpetrator at different times or situations where the perpetrator has had a long history of abusing women but it was unknown to the victim until it comes to light at court.
“That’s something that should change.”
If passed, Brodie’s Law will create an offence of “contributing or attempting to contribute, through violence, abusive behaviour, deception and/or coercion to the ending of a partner’s or ex-partner’s pregnancy”.
Laws in other parts of the UK are stronger in relation to the offence of child destruction as an aggravating factor, but in Scotland it is not defined in law.
In England and Wales, an offender could be jailed for as much as 15 years.
Brodie’s Trust can be found at www.facebook.com/brodiestrust
To contact Perthshire Women’s Aid visit www.perthwomensaid.org.uk or call 01738 635404.
