Can there be any "Catholic" 'alternatives to Mrs Victoria Gillick's proposal for saving our children? WM
BECAUSE I believe there is a better Catholic way than that proposed by Mrs Gillick
concerning contraceptives and young girls, may I begin by
applauding a courageous woman who has stood up for what she believes and has obliged a lot of other people to face this serious problem also.
The reason 1 believe Mrs Gillick is approaching this question in the wrong way is more than anything because it goes against our national character (at least the English national character).
Part of the very fabric of our society is based on common law — a type of law which is separate from Acts of Parliament and within the realms of which I believe some things are best kept.
Common law is the ancient, customary law of the land (included in which is case-made law from judges), and because of its long-established,
spontaneous and almost
instinctive character, I feel that so sensitive a question as the
rights of parents to know if doctors are prescribing contraceptives to their young daughters pertains to it, and not something emanating from Parliament.
Once as delicate a subject as this is moved into the sphere of statute law, parents would have to be word-perfect on every clause of the law, and
understand each possible nuance within every verbal construction. This does not, I believe, properly belong to the context of family life.
So, while applauding Mrs Gillick's active concern and indeed agreeing with her moral standpoint, I believe her actual solution might be harmful to the welfare of children, especially to that minority of children to whom this whole question really refers.
Queries, please, to Fr P Sanders, Question Box, Catholic Herald, Herald House, Lambs Passage, Bunhill Row, London ECI. S.a.e. appreciated.