Hmmmm....
Posted on 02/05/2007 7:13:36 AM PST by Froufrou
Bypassing the Legislature altogether, Republican Gov. Rick Perry issued an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer.
By using an executive order, Perry sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents-rights groups who fear such a requirement would seem to condone premarital sex and interfere with the way Texans raise their children.
Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade -- meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 -- will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base. But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different from the one that protects children against polio.
"The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer," Perry said.
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company's three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry's former chief of staff. His current chief of staff's mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.
The governor also received $6,000 from Merck's political action committee during his re-election campaign.
The order is effective until Perry or a successor changes it, and the Legislature has no authority to repeal it, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody. Moody said the Texas Constitution permits the governor to order other members of the executive branch to adopt rules like this one.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing affidavits objecting to vaccines on religious or philosophical reasons. Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say such requirements interfere with parents' rights to make medical decisions for their children.
This is just wrong on so many levels ping!
Even Republicans have tolitarians
So by requiring these vaccinations, the state is throwing in the towel and accepting that all girls are going to be exposed? Is there no personal responsibility at all?
I suspect a pharmaceutical company (Merck) did one heck of a sales job on the State of Texas.
Maybe Governor Perry watches "Friday Night Lights" and assumes that all school girls are engaged in promiscuous sex.
Further proof that GOP increasingly stands for nothing and is becoming indistinguishable from that other party.
This is NOT a cervical cancer vaccine! It is a HPV virus vaccine,which is contracted by being sexually promiscuous. While HPV may lead to cancer, the vaccine is only necessary if we say to our daughters "go ahead, be a slut"
Perry has a close friend who was a lobbyist and now works for Merck, IIRC.
No vote, AND we have to foot the bill??? What next, mandatory GYN exams? Chastity chips???
It's wonderful that there is a vaccine for this.
Making it mandatory for anyone is wrong.
I wonder what NOW and the other feminists think about this? They have been telling us for decades that a woman's body is her own and that no one can tell them what they can or cannot do with it. This ought to be quite a nice little conundrum for them......
I don't see anything wrong with having the vaccine, other than the government bureacracy involved here. Considering that Cervical cancer is the only known cancer caused by a virus, why not get a vaccine for it? Especially when cervical cancer has such a devestating treatment.
This is further proof that he will ramrod that #!%^!#%^ Trans Texas Corridor no matter what we, the people, think about it.
Ping.
Regards, Ivan
This action insults not only each and every Texan, but most especially those who are conservative and pro-family.
He now appears to be yet another "compassionate conservative" meaning for every liberal, nanny state, individual rights grabbing idea. Why, because it "sounds" like he "cares" for "the people."
He needs to be removed from office and each of his "executive" mandates, rescinded.
What the Constitution does not give the Governor is the authority to practice medicine.
Since a vaccination is a MEDICAL procedure, Governor Perry is practicing medicine without a license.
"Does the governor in Texas have the authority to ORDER people to take a particular medicine?"
No, and he didn't.
He ordered the vaccine be made available. PARENTS CAN OPT OUT FOR RELIGIOUS OR MORAL GROUNDS.
Me? I wouldn't want my daughters to die because they or their future husbands made a stupid mistake, so I would not object.
Hmmmm....
I agree that the vaccine is great to have a available, but it should be voluntary.
And if I had a daughter, she'd get it.... I mean, you can have sex just one time and get the HPV virus. Rape, just making one bad decision or having an unfaithful spouse is all it takes.
I went to the site and saw adverse side effects of headache, pelvic inflammatory disease, bronchospasm and asthma during the first 1-15 days. I don't like that!
I've always thought they've known for eons that cancers [all] are caused by viruses. Red, your arguement caveats the whole reason the GOP is 'supposed' to be different from the 'rats, that we're 'supposed' to be anti-big govt.
It's not as if there's an epidemic as with other mandatory immunizations.
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