Posted by
Edmond Long on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 6:52:45 PM
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has declared that unless school-age girls in Texas are vaccinated with Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine, they will not be allowed to attend school. The vaccine is produced by Merck, which is behind the campaign to pass laws in state legislatures across the country mandating vaccination with Gardasil vaccine for girls as young as 11 or 12. Some see Perry’s financial and political ties with Merck as the reason for his decision.
Most likely, Perry’s order will not stand up in court. One would hope such is the case. The order by the Texas governor involves parental privacy rights and gender issues at least. One wonders why the governor has not mandated mandatory flu shots for all children in Texas as a requirement for school attendance. The flu virus kills 60,000 people annually in the U.S. Only an estimated 4,000 fatalities from HPV and cervical cancer (related to HPV) occur each year. What’s more dangerous to a child’s health, flu or HPV?
Perry’s actions are similar to those of proponents of universal HIV/AIDS testing. Both mandatory HPV vaccination and universal HIV/AIDS testing imply that anyone can become infected with either of these sexually transmitted disorders. Not long ago an AIDS Summit was hosted by California mega-church pastor Rick Warren and his wife Kay. The Warrens are to be commended for taking the lead in getting the church involved in addressing AIDS. The church has been silent and inactive far too long, as Warren has pointed out. Yet, what Warren and Senators Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan., did during the conference is cause for criticism. Each was publicly tested for HIV.
What, you might ask, is the problem with their being tested for HIV/AIDS? Fundamentally, the same problem Gov. Perry’s mandate involves. Both HIV/AIDS and HPV are sexually transmitted diseases. Does Pastor Warren believe that members of his congregation, or Americans in general, are in danger of becoming HIV positive? How many parents in Texas expect their 11- and 12-year old daughters to be sexually active? Those who expect their daughters to be sexually active anytime prior to marriage have a strange notion of their role as parents.
Teens, especially girls, are not predisposed to promiscuous sex, as some would have us believe. In her article on Townhall.com, "Teen sex Leads to Depression and Drug Use," Janice Shaw Crouse highlighted the results of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study on teen patterns of drug use and sexual activity. Their findings, Crouse pointed out, go against the grain of the position held by social liberals of our day. The UNC-CH showed that especially among teen girls, extremely negative effects are experienced as a result of sexual activity. Depression was shown clearly to result from either drug use or sexual activity. In fact, the study showed that depression does not lead to sex. In fact, "Depressed girls who are abstinent, however, have decreased odds of engaging in any high-risk behavior," Crouse stated.
Personally, I read the message being sent by Gov. Perry, in particular, as well as by Rev. Warren, as being that we can assume that most people are, have been, or will be sexually active outside marriage. The Texas governor seems to believe that all girls in Texas are in danger of contracting HPV. Why else would we vaccinate all girls if such were not the case? Why be tested for HIV/AIDS unless you have been sexually active outside of marriage? For men, by the way, being HIV/AIDS positive suggests homosexual activity at some time, unless the virus is passed to the male by a female.
Gov. Perry has no business telling all parents in Texas they should expect their daughters to become sexually active. Obviously, he has no confidence in Texas parents. If Gov. Perry is so health conscious, not only should he also institute mandatory flu vaccination as a requirement for school attendance, he should also order HIV/AIDS testing as well.
Children rise to the standards set by their parents. My wife and I reared two daughters and a son. We not only expected them to abstain from sex and drugs, we did everything in our power to assist them in resisting popular pressure to do both. Each made a True Love Waits commitment, which each of our daughters honored till they were married. Our son, a Marine, has done the same.
Parents should resist any attempt by any agency, governmental or otherwise, to force them to have their daughters vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. If, when a girls becomes an adult, she decides to be vaccinated, let her do so. Young girls should never be forced to take such a step. Parents, and parents alone, are the ones to make such decisions.
Gov. Perry needs to do some homework. All girls are not going to be sexually active; in fact, most will not be, especially those who are challenged to be abstinent. If Gov. Perry’s ruling stands, and some girls feel safer in being sexually active, they definitely will pay an emotional price for the "freedom" the good governor granted them. Consequently, he will bear a share of the responsibility for the emotional price those young women will pay.
Parents, your children's health is in your hands, not the governments’.