Tuesday, February 6, 2007

HPV Vaccination? A Good Move By Gov. Perry

Yesterday, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order that would mandate the HPV vaccination to all girls entering the sixth grade. Also, this order would allow eligible women from the ages of 9 to 21 to receive the vaccine at no cost. Look at that, our government at work, doing something to protect its citizens against a serious threat of cervical cancer. Good job, Governor Perry!

Well, as expected, the right-wingers are in an uproar over a good government action, and a group of lawmakers subsequently have asked Governor Perry to rescind this executive order. How dare Governor Perry subject their children to a vaccination that would protect their girls against cancer?

Well, God forbid, their children won't be getting cancer because they are nothing short of saints - no clandestine rolls in the hay for them in the next 20+ years! After all, good Christians don't put themselves at risk by abusing the sanctity of marriage like that.

To all you who are opposed to this, it's time to pull your heads out of the Bible and realize that in the real world, there are not a whole lot of Marys and Jesus running around. Sure, we wish there were and many people strive to follow the example of the Jesus and the saints, but people are people - not perfect. Does it not make sense to vaccination girls in the event that they slip up on Perfection Road here or there?

Also, ALL women are at risk for HPV. Over 50% of sexually active people have the virus (men do not have symptoms, but they can pass it on to their partners). That means a women has a decent chance for getting HPV (and very possibly cervical cancer) if she marries a man who has contracted HPV. Did that woman fall into the downward spiral of sin? Not so much. Let's let Governor Perry do his job and be a realist to protect his very real constituency.