Victoria D.M. Gillick (née Gudgeon, Hendon, 1946 - ) is a British campaigner best known for the eponymous 1985 UK House of Lords ruling that considered whether contraception could be prescribed to under-16s without parental consent or knowledge. The ruling established the term "Gillick competence" to describe whether a minor (16 years or younger) is able to consent to his or her own medical treatment, without the need for parental permission or knowledge.
A Roman Catholic and the mother of 10 children including 5 daughters, Gillick began her campaign in 1980 in response to a DHSS circular issuing guidance on contraceptive prescribing. After being considered in lower courts, the House of Lords ruled that in some circumstances a minor could consent to treatment, and that in these circumstances a parent had no power to veto treatment.
In 2000, Gillick lost a libel action against the Brook Advisory Centre which she claimed accused her of being "morally responsible" for a rise in teenage pregnancies. Costs of £4,298.15 were awarded against her.
In 2002 she won an apology and damages amounting to £5000 and costs.
Famous quotes containing the word victoria:
“Sometimes my wife complains that she’s overwhelmed with work and just can’t take one of the kids, for example, to a piano lesson. I’ll offer to do it for her, and then she’ll say, “No, I’ll do it.” We have to negotiate how much I trespass into that mother role—it’s not given up easily.”
—Anonymous Father. As quoted in Women and Their Fathers, by Victoria Secunda, ch. 3 (1992)