What was the nickname for a 1913 British Act of Parliament that enabled suffragettes on hunger strike to be released from prison when they became ill?
Hunger strike problems caused by force feeding. In 1913 the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act (nicknamed the "Cat and Mouse Act") changed policy. Hunger strikes were tolerated but prisoners were released when they became sick. When they had recovered, the suffragettes were taken back to prison to finish their sentences. Like their British counterparts, American suffragettes also used this method of political protest. A few years prior to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a group of American suffragettes led by Alice Paul engaged in a hunger strike and endured forced feedings while incarcerated at
Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 number of times, before killing it. After the act was introduced force-feeding was no longer used to combat hunger strikes. Instead, suffragettes on hunger strike were kept in prison until they became extremely weak, at which point they would be released to recover. This allowed the government to claim that any harm (or even death) which resulted from the starvation was entirely the fault of the suffragette. During the recovery period, any wrongdoing on the part of the suffragette would see them put straight back in prison. To attain the goal of suffrage on the same basis as men, the