Here is a short summary:
- TX State Governor, Rick Perry, attempted to push a mandated law stating that girls 11-12 years old would be required to get vaccinated against HPV.
- HPV (Human Papillomavoirus) is a sexually transmitted disease which research has shown to cause cervical cancer.
- His proposal was overwhelmingly vetoed by state legislature and will be revisited in 4 years.
- Parents could opt to allow their daughters to not receive the vaccine.
- The Center for Disease Control has described the vaccine (Gardasil) as safe and effective when given as directed for girls aged 9-26.
- The vaccine is given in 3 shots over 8 months.
What are your thoughts/reactions? Read the article, let me know what you think!
~JK
3 comments:
I've expounded my opinion on my friend Travis' blog; basically, this is not about a child choosing to become sexually active, but that is what some people want you to think. What they are overlooking, and what you must know, because of your job and education, is that an apalling amount of childhood sexual activity is not by choice. The sexual violation of children is rampant (check the stats with the Bureau of Justice, more that 70,000 reported incidents of rape and an estimated 95% unreported for, though 20 years of working with Christian children tells me that the actual number is much larger) and it is pure stupidity . . . foolishness . . . villainry . . . , if I had a stronger word I'd use it, for people to use the name of Jesus to block something like this. Yes, if they could not opt out, I'd agree that something would have to change, but as it is, this is evil, and I hope that the people who opposed it still have their daughters treated before trajedy is added to trajedy when sexual violation results in disease as well as heart ache.
P.S. They should have removed the term "required" and used "prescribed, except upon parental objection," and it would likely have passed. I know that that is what scared my friend, Travis.
Josh,
I do think it sends a wrong message to our teens. What about abstaning? But, I do live in one of the poorest towns in the state of Texas, and one assistance myself can see that it can help the girls who do make those choices to have sex and save them from the consequences of a bad family life and a government that is making it hard for them to live. So, even as a minister I have mixed feeling on the subject. Ask this on your blog again in four years.
I think it's interesting that this particular vaccine is getting so much press, when there is another vaccine that protects against an STD (or now called STI) that children receive in order to get into school that people do not seem to have a problem with. The vaccine I am talking about is the Hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to most newborns in the U.S. unless the parents do not give consent. Hepatitis B can be transmitted through sexual contact, but also via blood. I just think it's intersting that we have such a HUGE problem with the HPV vaccine and have seemed to let the Hepatitis B vaccine slide right by.
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