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the counter in local pharmacies reignited controversy. Mrs Gillick had, however, a second line of attack. The Sexual Offences Act 1956 made it a criminal offence ‘to cause or encourage … the commission of unlawful sexual intercourse with … a girl for whom [the] accused is responsible’. So Mrs Gillick argued that providing contraception for a girl under 16 amounted to ‘encouraging’ that crime. The Law Lords dismissed this second claim too. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 replaces the 1956 Act. It creates a raft of new criminal offences and toughens up the law relating