Parental Role in Daughters' Lives Threatened Again

The Center for Arizona Policy has released a position statement on the potential use of a new HPV vaccine in young girls. The vaccine developed by Merck is intended to combat cervical cancer (caused by strains of sexually transmitted HPV) in promiscuous women, or perhaps more accurately, women who have sex with promiscuous men. CAP is attempting to pre-empt in Arizona a repeat of Texas Governor Rick Perry's folly. Perry recently issued an executive order mandating HPV vaccination of all girls entering the sixth grade unless parents take the specific action of opting out of the program. That’s right sixth grade girls, and no, the virus is not thought to spread during usual classroom activities. Predictably some Arizona lawmakers would love to take parents out of the equation as well by making the vaccine mandatory for girls as young as 11 years of age. The Strenuous Life will continue to monitor and report on this possibility.