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An MP has revealed she was “seduced” into pregnancy by an older man when she was 15, and has vowed to speak out for “women who have given birth in far from ideal circumstances”.
Labour MP Natalie Fleet, 40, revealed she still has “nightmares every week” as a result of the terrifying ordeal but is determined to use her platform to drive change.
She said her family had struggled growing up and were even homeless before she had her daughter.
In accepting Gloria De Piero Speaking to GB News on Sunday, Ms Fleet said: “At the time, I was 15 and felt so full of shame, guilt and responsibility.
“All I was determined to do was make sure she had the best life that any parent of any age could have. That’s what I was determined to do, I didn’t think about myself or the impact.”
However, now that her daughter is 23 and she is “the love of my life”, Ms Fleet said she looks back and thinks “that wasn’t right”.
She said: “It was an old man. It could have been, I mean, now we have labels like solicitation, and we didn’t back then. I had no idea we were having unprotected sex. I was a kid, and it was statutory rape. You know, we didn’t talk about it back then. That’s not how I viewed myself.”
When she told her daughter what had happened, Ms Fleet said she was shocked because she couldn’t find any advice for women in her situation.
She said: “Nothing. No one in the UK acknowledged that this happened. The more research I did, the more I discovered there were over 3,000 rape pregnancies every year and yet there were no charities to support these women.”
Ms Fleet, now a mother of four, was elected MP for Bolsover earlier this month, a constituency represented for decades by Dennis Skinner until it was won by the Conservatives in 2019.
In taking on the role, she pledged to use her platform to speak more about women in her situation “and take action.”
“I really want to be a voice for all these people, all these women who are having children in far-from-ideal circumstances,” she said.
She added that her childhood experiences still had a “huge impact” on her and said she remained “very excited about what the next Labour government will do”.
She said: “We need to make sure we break down barriers to opportunity so there are more stories like mine. I am a product of the last Labour government. That government wasn’t perfect but it changed my life, it was transformative.
“That’s why this job is worth doing. It sucks when you can’t go to the shops in your pyjamas anymore but you still have an alarm in your bag and your own children could be at risk. But when it means you can make life better for other children who are less fortunate, it’s awesome.”
The interview will be broadcast on GB News on Sunday from 1pm to 3pm
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