Posted on 02/06/2007 8:45:52 AM PST by Froufrou
Gov. Rick Perry stood firm Monday against a political firestorm ignited by his order that sixth-grade girls be inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer.
Social conservatives from Austin to Washington joined some state lawmakers in calling for Perry to reverse his executive order making Texas the first state to mandate the human papillomavirus vaccine for girls entering sixth grade in September 2008.
Several legislators expressed outrage that Perry circumvented the legislative process. Several bills had been filed to make the HPV shots mandatory for school enrollment.
"This needs closer examination. How much will it cost the state?" Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, said at a news conference.
"Most importantly, as a mother of four daughters I want to make sure our daughters' health is protected and parental rights are preserved."
Another senator, Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, said he'd file legislation to reverse Perry's order, which he said was not in the best interest of the state.
Parents will be able to opt their 11- and 12-year-old daughters out of the program, as they can for other required vaccines.
As speculation swirled about why Perry risked angering his conservative base, political observers said the governor is showing newfound independence and may be trying to raise his national profile as a potential vice presidential candidate.
The governor's spokesman also indicated that first lady Anita Perry's strong support for the vaccine might have played a role in the decision. A former nurse and the daughter of a doctor, Anita Perry works for an organization dealing with sexual assaults.
"I know they have discussed it, and it's something they both feel very strongly about," the spokesman, Robert Black, said.
In a statement, Perry addressed criticism that the vaccine could send a message that teenage sex is permissible.
"Providing the HPV vaccine doesn't promote sexual promiscuity any more than providing the Hepatitis B vaccine promotes drug use," he said.
"If the medical community developed a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it claiming it would encourage smoking?"
Perry's office said it would cost the state $29 million for its share of inoculating students who are uninsured or on government health programs. Federal funds also will be available for children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Federal health authorities last year recommended girls and young women get the vaccine, which prevents infection by four common strains of the HPV virus, which can cause cervical cancer years after infection.
Cervical cancer accounts for 3,700 deaths a year in the United States, including nearly 400 in Texas.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, said he supports the vaccine but noted that other state legislatures have decided not to make it mandatory.
"What kind of deal was made?" asked Keffer, referring to comments by Cathie Adams, president of Texas Eagle Forum, that Perry's political ties with drug company Merck may have influenced the decision.
Perry's office has denied he was influenced by anything other than health concerns. His ex-chief of staff, Mike Toomey, is a lobbyist for Merck and Perry got $6,000 in contributions from the drug manufacturer's political action committee.
Black said Perry and Toomey never discussed the issue, and noted the Merck campaign contributions were relatively small.
"The governor is very pro-life, and he views this as protecting life," Black said. "The human race has never had an opportunity to prevent cancer. Not to pursue that opportunity, the governor believes that would be morally reprehensible."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick both said Perry did not consult them. Craddick said he didn't have a position on the issue. Dewhurst said he would prefer a voluntary vaccination program.
GOP consultant Royal Masset said he thinks Perry wants to be considered as a national leader. Perry talked about international terrorism and immigration reform in his inaugural address.
"Health care is one of the most powerful issues we're going to be dealing with nationally," Masset said.
Meanwhile, a Christian group knocked the Texas governor in a Washington update mailed to supporters Monday.
Tony Perkins with Family Research Council said, "By commandeering this issue, Gov. Perry, who has championed family values, has only succeeded in arousing more mistrust."
"If she did get raped, then she would start going for regular pap smears."
All a pap smear would tell her is when to have her private parts cut out to save her life. Hardly an attractive option.
But, hey, adoption is an alternative.
The "double standard" is based on a biological reality. Women are at much greater risk than are men. They suffer many more debilitating, life altering, even life ending HPV diseases than do men. For that reason, the clinical trials focused on women, and the FDA subsequently approved the vaccine for women. Hopefully, it will be approved for males in the future.
Like many issues relating to the sexes, this may not be PC, but it's the way it is. Men and women are different. As conservatives, we should probably recognize that. Let the liberals pretend that sex is nothing more than a social construct.
Next time someone tells me that the Republican Party is for individual liberties and self sufficiency, I'm going to probably sprain my gut from laughing.
They are for no such thing.
Great post.
I've provided the same information over-and-over.
These people must either be stupid or really want 56,000 young ladies per year to have their private parts chopped out at an early age.
Maybe they're part of the adoption lobby.
What are the real chances that my daughters are going to be raped before they are out of high school? Very, very slim.
Then multiply that by the slim chance that she'll get cervical cancer.
I would say the chances of a problem with the vaccine are higher.
Or they might be working for GlaxoSmithKline. If GSK can delay implementation of HPV vaccination policies until Cervarix hits the market, they've substantially reduced Merck's lead in the HPV race.
It sounds like you've made your informed decision, so check the box "no" and move on.
No immunization gestapo will be coming for you.
Possibly, but they don't strike me as smart enough.
Maybe that's part of their plan!?
It won't. As done, using YOUR numbers, about 2,500 cases a year are claimed to have HPV as a precursor.
That's a a far cry from "hundreds of thousands of women from the next generation"
Who's making stuff up? In fact, even if every child is held down and shot with gardisol from this moment forward, it would take 100's of years to 'prevent' that many cases. It would cost trillions long before that. For what? Cerival cancer is 100% treatable now with existing methods, a simple pap smear. And we already pay for that , it's included in your anual check up fee.
How many shares do you own? Better sell them, because they are going to be as worthless as gardisol.
I don't remember where in the Constitution it talked about preventing hysterctomies as being the government's responsibility, not the parents' and child's.
The fact is we are not talking about anything resembling an "attack" on the greater portion of the female population. Government defends us from attacks, including epidemics. This aint that.
You make a good case for educating parents, and for educating kids in health class about the dangers of sex, but a poor one for empowering government.
Your argument almost assumes that parents are too stupid to make this decision. If you will agree to let parents "opt in" to this program, I will agree that it might be useful (barring unforseen consequences of the immunization).
I also challenge you to explain to me why each kid should not be tested fot HPV twice a year and have the results posted on the school web site.
There's more than that now in California. I know chicken pox, pneumococcal, and meningicoccal have been added.
"Cerival cancer is 100% treatable now with existing methods, a simple pap smear."
A pap smear does not TREAT cervical cancer. A pap smear DETECTS cervical cancer cells.
The TREATMENT is a hysterectomy, followed by chemo/radiation if it has spread.
Aw GEEZ! As if it weren't bad enough!
I should add to that-
Manufacturers of VIOX, and we all know how well THAT was "tested".
Included in the cost of your shares is the price being paid for that piece of my heart they took.
GlaxoSmithKline's involvement would be covert, of course. They'd slip a few bucks to a viral marketing -- I mean, political action committee. The PAC would whisper to the "family" groups, "Hey, I heard the FDA and CDC approved the quadrivalent HPV vaccine without testing it for effectiveness or safety! And Governor Perry called your daughter a slut!" And then things kind of snowball from there. We're not seeing actual GSK employees, or even employees of their employees ... just the foot soldiers inspired by their secret campaign.
Hey, if the tinfoil crowd can invent conspiracies about wide-ranging secret tests on our virgin foster children intended to give them autism or ... promiscuity ... I can invent conspiracy theories, too.
"I don't remember where in the Constitution it talked about preventing hysterctomies"
The Texas Constitution gives the governor these rights, as does the education code. This was actually litigated because of mandatory polio vaccines.
"Your argument almost assumes that parents are too stupid to make this decision."
No, it does not.
"If you will agree to let parents "opt in" to this program"
The reason it is opt-in and not opt-out is insurance driven. Health insurance policies in Texas (they are all basically the same, approved by the Texas Insurance Board --- long story, but insurance companies used to write meaningless policies that covered nothing) have to pay for mandatory innoculations -- they generally do not pay for voluntary ones, like if you go to Africa.
Ergo, to make this generally available, it had to be opt-out.
"I also challenge you to explain to me why each kid should not be tested fot HPV twice a year and have the results posted on the school web site."
Among many obvious reasons, because there is no reliable test for HPV in males and the test for females is an intrusive physical exam.
I told you 8 times those aren't my numbers. You made them up or something, I don't know where you got the bull hockey.
Between 10,000 and 14,000 women get invasive cervical cancer every year! 50,000 cases of cervical carcinoma in situ (localized) are diagnosed. READ THESE NUMBERS. BURN THEM IN YOUR BRAIN.
A pap smear IS NOT A TREATMENT. It is a diagnostic tool. You don't cure or prevent precancerous lesions with a pap smear, you detect them and then attempt to treat them in a way that prevents fullblown, invasive cervical cancer. You cannot always prevent cervical cancer simply by removing the localized cancer tissue. The treatment is SURGERY, CHEMO, HYSTERECTOMY, etc. It is painful, terrible, crippling and life-altering. If the cancer doesn't kill you, somtimes the treatment can.
Prevention is infinitely better than early detection. They are not even comparable in terms of emotional and monetary drain on the patient and the healthcare system.
Sorry, reverse opt-in and opt-out above!
This all just sounds like an end run to avoid confronting the real problem - sexual promiscuity has resulted in nasty diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and infertility when you later want to get pregnant. We have got to give the girls and boys real information about the impact of their behavior. Once again, parents' rights and responsibilities are being subverted.
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