“1. A declaration that the 2004 Guidance is unlawful in that it: (1) misrepresents the decision of the House of Lords in Gillick whilst purporting to clarify it; (2) makes doctors and other health professionals the sole arbiters of what is in the best interests of a child; (3) makes informing parents the exception rather than the rule; (4) excludes parents from important decision-making about the life and welfare of their child; (5) fails in any event to discharge the State’s positive obligation to give practical and effective protection to the Claimant’s rights under article 8(1). 2. A declaration that, other than in circumstances where disclosure would be likely to damage the child’s physical or mental health- (1) doctors and other health professionals have a duty to consult the parents of a young person under 16 before providing advice and/or treatment in respect of contraception, sexually transmitted infections or abortions; (2) parents have a right to be informed about the proposed provision of advice and/or treatment in respect of contraception, sexually transmitted infections or abortions”
“(1) In this Act “parental responsibility” means all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property”
“From these [US Supreme Court] cases, Mr Pannick submitted that care has to be exercised so as not to impede communication between manufacturers and adult consumers of a lawful product. I think, however, that Mr Sales was right to invite attention to certain features of the US law and the cases which must limit their relevance to the present case. First, the first amendment to the US Constitution is expressed in broad terms and does not have a “justification” provision such as article 10(2) of our Convention…. With the very greatest of respect to that distinguished court, it was dealing with the United States Constitution rather than our Convention. While it is instructive, in general terms, to see how another respected jurisdiction has dealt with a related but confined problem, the balance between State legislation and federal legislation in the United States is a subject of renowned complexity. Decisions on such matters can have limited effect on our consideration of the balance to be struck in considering a restriction of a limited Convention right and the measure of a discretion to be afforded to Parliament and ministers under our own rather different constitutional system”
“ States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. Article 16 states that: “ 1.No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation”
“above all, the State is entitled to give children the protection they are given by an international instrument to which the United Kingdom is a party, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child”
“when applying these conclusions to contraceptive advice and treatment it has to be borne in mind that there is much to be understood by a girl under the age of 16 if she is to have legal capacity to consent to such treatment. It is not enough that she should understand the nature of the advice which is being given; she must also have a sufficient maturity to understand what is involved. There are moral and family questions, especially her relationship with her parents; long term problems associated with the emotional impact of pregnancy and its termination; and there are risks to health of sexual intercourse at her age, risks which contraception may diminish but cannot eliminate. It follows that a doctor will have to satisfy himself that she is able to appraise these factors before he can safely proceed upon the basis that she has at law capacity to consent to contraceptive treatment”
“If a request for contraception is made, doctors and other health professionals should establish rapport and give a young person support and time to make an informed choice by discussing… The benefits of informing their GP and the case for discussion with a parent or carer. Any refusal should be respected. In the case of abortion, where the young woman is competent to consent but cannot be persuaded to involve her parent, every effort should be made to help them find another adult to provide support, for example another family member or specialist youth worker”
“It should be observed at the outset that family life in the Contracting States incorporates a broad range of parental rights and responsibilities in regard to the care and custody of minor children. The care and upbringing of children normally and necessarily require that the parents or an only parent decide where the child must reside and also impose, or authorize others to impose, various restrictions on the child’s liberty. Thus the children in a school or other educational or recreational institution must abide by certain rules, which limit their freedom of movement and their liberty in other respects. Likewise a child may have to be hospitalised for medical treatment. Family life in this sense, and especially the rights of parents to exercise parental authority over their children, having due regard to their corresponding parental responsibilities is reconsidered by the [ECHR] in particular by article 8. Indeed the exercise of parental rights constitutes a fundamental element of family life”
“ The Commission has consistently held that, in assessing the question of whether or not the refusal of the right of access to the non-custodial parent was in confidentially witharticle 8 of the convention the interests of the child pre-dominate”