Women who conceived in abusive relationships lose legal challenge over benefits ‘rape clause’

The two mothers launched a challenge to the rules around the so-called rape clause at a court in Leeds in June. Photograph: Martyn Williams/Alamy

Two women who conceived their eldest children while they were in violent and controlling relationships have lost a legal challenge to the rules around the two-child benefit cap.

A high court judge said the accounts of the abuse the women faced when they were “vulnerable girls barely out of childhood” were “chilling”.