Product details
- ISBN 9781785909351
- Publication Date: 13 May 2025
- Publisher: Biteback Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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In an emotional debate in the House of Commons in October 2023, then MP Theo Clarke broke down in tears as she described being rushed into emergency surgery after the birth of her daughter, terrified she was going to die. Amazed at the public response, she quickly realised that although birth trauma is a huge issue, there is still a real taboo around speaking about it. In the UK alone, it's estimated that up to 30,000 women a year suffer bad experiences during the delivery of their babies, with one in twenty developing post-traumatic stress disorder as a result. Despite this, substandard maternity and postnatal care is too often tolerated as normal.
In Breaking the Taboo, as well as telling her own story, Theo presents the experiences of mothers and fathers from different backgrounds that show the undiscussed realities of birth trauma. She also shines a light on what it is like to combine motherhood with a career as an MP, revealing the shocking way new mothers are treated by our political system - something that has serious implications for our democracy.
A gripping memoir of a new mother's experience combined with a powerful call to arms for change, this urgent book will start a conversation that is as essential as it is overdue.
Theo Clarke was the Member of Parliament for Stafford from 2019 to 2024. She co-chaired the Birth Trauma Inquiry in Parliament, which was the first in British history, and previously set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma in the House of Commons. Theo has served as parliamentary private secretary at the Departments for Education and Business and Trade and at HM Treasury, in addition to being a trade envoy for the Prime Minister. She won Political Speech of the Year at The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in 2023 and was included in the prestigious 'Women in Westminster: The 100' list in 2024 and 2025. Theo hosts the popular podcast Breaking the Taboo, which ranks in the top 5 per cent of most listened-to shows around the world. This is her first book.
