Last year nearly 72,000 people came to the UK seeking asylum and a fifth of them were women. Some of them are pregnant when they arrive here ? and for a significant number, the pregnancy is the result of rape. Others become pregnant while waiting for their claim for refugee status to be decided.
Pregnant women are only supposed to be imprisoned in detention centres under "exceptional circumstances". The United Nations High Commission on Refugees has condemned the practice altogether. But those who work in the field claim that Home Office guidelines are not being followed. It's said that pregnant women and some who have very young children are routinely being deprived of their liberty. Angela Robson has been investigating these claims.
