Fertility Clinics during Covid-19, Mothers in Prison, Monica Dolan

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.1 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2020

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Harriet Harman MP, raises concerns about the current treatment of mothers in prison during Covid-19 and the impact on their children and family life.. Fertility clinics were told last month that they could reopen as long as social distancing measures were in place. Being without access to fertility treatment has left thousands of couples – as well as single women – worried that they might run out of chances to conceive, and run out of time. Research has begun into the impact of clinic coronavirus delays on people’s lives, relationships and feelings. Public toilets have been a well-known victim of council cuts, leaving the UK with 50% fewer toilets than a decade ago. Coronavirus has caused even more closures – albeit temporarily. But where does that leave people who need urgent access to the loo? Monica Dolan is best known for her role as senior communications officer Tracey Pritchard in the BBC’s comedy W1A. We speak to her about her latest film ‘Days of the Bagnold Summer’ about a mother and her relationship with her heavy metal loving teenage son. Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Harriet Harman MP Interviewed guest: Seetal Savla Interviewed guest: Zeynep Gurtin Interviewed guest: Rachel Cutting Interviewed guest: Bekki Farrar Interviewed guest: Monica Dolan Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:04.7	Hi, this is Jane Garvey and it's the Woman's Hour podcast. I cannot actually believe,
0:09.7	apparently, today is Monday, the 8th of June, 2020, on We Plod.
0:15.6	Hello, very good morning to you. I hope the weekend was reasonable. We're back live
0:19.6	from Broadcasting House and we'd love to hear from you this morning at BBC Women's Hour
0:23.6	on Twitter and Instagram or you can email the programme via our website. Today,
0:29.2	how the coronavirus has affected people having fertility treatment.
0:33.7	It has been so tough for so many women and for couples who are undergoing treatment right now or
0:39.7	were before lockdown. We'll investigate that this morning and we'll talk to the brilliant actor
0:45.1	Monica Dolan, who will discuss amongst other things her new film Days of the Bagnauld Summer,
0:50.3	which I saw over the weekend and it's really worth watching that one. It's really, really good.
0:54.9	So, Monica Dolan with us today. Now, at the beginning of April, we were told that pregnant women
1:00.6	and young mothers would be released from prison temporarily. Well, did that happen? And what about
1:06.1	women with children still in prison? And of course, not able to get visitors. So, young children,
1:11.2	in many cases, not able to see their mothers at the moment. The Labour MP Harriet Harman is chair
1:17.2	of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and today, she's got a meeting with the prison's
1:21.8	minister to raise concerns about the treatment of mothers in prison during COVID-19.
1:26.8	So, Harriet Harman, good morning to you. Good morning. A pretty clear statement it would
1:31.3	seem from the MOJ back at the very end of March. I'm just quoting here, pregnant women in custody
1:36.5	who do not pose a high risk of harm to the public will be temporarily released from prison within
1:41.4	days. And prisoners in mother and baby units meeting the same risk assessment will also be released
1:47.6	with their children. So, let's clear that up. Did that happen?
	...

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