Victoria Gillick

Victoria D. M. Gillick (née Gudgeon; born 1946 in Hendon) is a British campaigner best known for the eponymous 1985 UK House of Lords ruling^[1] 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 (below the age of 16) 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 five daughters, Gillick began her campaign in 1980 in response to a DHSS circular issuing guidance on contraceptive prescribing. After it was 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^[2] against the Brook Advisory Centres 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.^[3]

Living in Wisbech^[4] she is married to Cambridgeshire County Councillor and UKIP member Gordon Gillick,^[5] and mother of painter James Gillick and sculptor Theodore Gillick.

References

1. 1983: Mother loses contraception test case, BBC News
2. Victoria Gillick 'broke' after losing libel case, Daily Telegraph.
3. Morals campaigner wins damages, BBC News.
4. OLD RATCLIFFIAN NEWS Retrieved 2016-10-31.
5. "Ukip councillor Gordon Gillick: 'Poor, badly educated people are fat because they like it'" The Independent, 24 July 2014