On Wednesday 16th November, exactly one month before Dr Eilidh Whiteford’s Private Members Bill on ratification of the Istanbul Convention is due to be debated, we held a drop in event for our MP’s who are supporting this bill. IC Change supporter Steph Daft came along to our event to help out and she has written about why she supporting the #changeherstory campaign: I am currently a student studying domestic violence in women and sexual abuse in children in the hopes to become a first respondent trauma counsellor. During my studies what has shocked me is the rise in statistics on women and children who are victims of gender based violence. In the U.K. a woman is raped every 11 minutes and every day 2 women die at the hands of an abuser. Often little is done to stop the violence unless the victims are willing to leave everything behind to escape their tormentor. Though there are many organisations’ providing support, some of whom I was lucky to meet on Wednesday, the existence of these services is under threat. Why, when statistics keep rising, and services are struggling to stay open, is ratification of the Istanbul Convention not a priority? The governments lack of action prompted me to support the IC Change #changeherstory campaign. I know that there is a real chance to make progress on this, if we can get 100 MP’s to turn up on 16th December and vote for it. I for one am putting everything I have into getting this bill passed by writing to my local MP and rallying friends to do the same. The sooner this bill is passed, the safer women and children will be.