State Of Queensland V. B (2008

State of Queensland v B [2008] QSC 231 was a case heard in the Supreme Court of

Queensland by Justice Wilson. The jurisdiction of the court appealed to was that of

parens patriae 1 .

In this case, B is a 12-year- old girl who is 18 months pregnant. She is a patient at a

public hospital conducted by the applicant, the State of Queensland, who sought the

Court’s authorisation for abortion, having assessed that the pregnancy was a danger to

B’s mental health. Administration of the drug misoprostol, instead of a surgical

procedure, was the proposed method for abortion.

Two legal issues faced the court, including: 1) whether authority over consent for the

abortion lay with the child, the parents, or the court; and 2) whether termination

Justice

Wilson also concluded that the parents could not give consent to the abortion, having

considered the ratio in Marion’s case, which ruled that the consent for sterilisation of

intellectually disabled children was outside the scope of parental authority. While that

case dealt with a similar circumstance (i.e. dealing with incompetent children) it was

different in that Marion’s case concerned sterilisation, while this case concerned

abortion. Nevertheless, Justice Wilson adopted the ratio taken by Marion’s case

reasoning that, just like with the decision to sterilise, B’s parents also risk making the

wrong decisions in regards to the abortion which may result in particularly grave

1 State of Queensland v B [2008] QSC 231, [2]

2 B’s case, [16]

3 Khai Der Lau (470348206)

consequences against the child’s best interest. Consequently, the decision over the

abortion lay with the court, to decide, as a reasonable parent would, the best course of

action to take that suits the interests of B 3