Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
In a post at The Hill about the areas in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry deviates from the conservative mainstream, I came upon this nugget:
His most significant departure from the conservative base came in 2007, when he bypassed the Texas Legislature and signed an executive order mandating that all girls entering the sixth grade receive a vaccine that helps protect from some strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer.
His decision drew outrage from social conservatives, who claimed he was implicitly condoning premarital sex. It also stoked anger among conservatives of all stripes who objected to such government intervention in healthcare decisions. Dissenters quickly filed a lawsuit, and conservative anger spread from one end of Texas to the other. The state Legislature, which had always opposed the vaccine’s enforcement, quickly crafted a bill that overturned the executive order; it passed so overwhelmingly that a Perry veto wouldn’t have mattered.
And now a confession: I've always been one of those social conservatives who has felt that things like vaccinating young girls against HPV, or teaching 8th graders how to use condoms, or instructing young adolescents how to protect themselves from the risks and consequences of unprotected sex, amount to encouraging, or at the very least condoning, premarital sex. But I'm beginning to wonder if this might be a counter-productive stance to hold. In my opinion, the best case scenario is for folks to abstain from intercourse until they are wed. In actuality, however, so few young people practice abstinence these days (though, there are some encouraging signs that teens are waiting longer to have sex). In dealing with the harsh reality of the situation, is it not the role of the adults in the lives of these young people to equip them with the tools they'll need to avoid disease and unwanted pregnancy? Ideally, this task falls to parents. But again, the harsh reality is that so few parents are able to communicate about such sensitive and potentially awkward topics with their children. So is there not a case to be made for schools to set aside a small portion of the health class curriculum to discuss such matters? This is by no means a new, earth-shattering subject, but it's one on which I'm still entirely undecided.
Will Perry's advocacy of HPV vaccines affect his chances of electoral success? That's another discussion altogether, but I'd like to think that voters wouldn't write him off because of this one issue.
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Jul '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Forgive me for the reference, but I'm reminded of a scene from The West Wing where Jeb Bartlett, then on the campaign trail, was grilled by a dairy farmer as to why he allowed milk prices to drop while governor of New Hampshire. He responded flatly that he wanted parents to be able to afford milk for their children.
I'm not that familiar with Gov. Perry, but I'd venture a guess and say that if asked about this move in a private, intimate setting, he would simply answer, "I just don't want girls who make a mistake in their youth to get sick." And I don't see anything wrong with that.
Jul '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
If this is more important to you than four more years of Obama, you are not a serious person.
Aug '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I don't really care about questions surrounding whether this sort of action encourages sexual promiscuity, but I still think what Perry did in this case was a bad idea.
I simply do not believe that a government should have the authority to force citizens to take a particular drug.
If Texas was simply agreeing to pay for vaccinations, that would be one thing. But mandating that every 6th grade girl MUST receive the vaccine is far too authoritarian a measure for my tastes.
Jun '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
The thing wrong with telling girls to get an unnecessary vaccine is that it is a drastic over reach of government power.
I've had 3 separate M.D.'s tell me that the HPV vaccine is totally unnecessary if you know you won't be having lots of sex with many different people. Two told me that it is almost purely pharmaceutical propaganda to suggest that the HPV vaccine is "necessary" - which I assume is the reason he would support such an action.
Aug '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
He also said to the farmer, "yeah, we really screwed you guys on that one," implying that he agreed with the farmer that it's the government's prerogative to control milk prices. It's just that the farmers weren't the more important interest group to him.
Jul '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I have no qualms with the vaccine, but making it mandatory is an overreach. This is not the measles. This single issue would not preclude me voting for Perry. This is low on the list of priorities unless there is a pattern of abuse of civil liberties.
Aug '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Before Gardasil most people had never even heard of HPV, let alone been sufficiently afraid of it that it deterred them from having sex. It doesn't exactly have the notoriety of AIDS, or even syphilis. I highly doubt that HPV vaccination will encourage any more premarital sex than the status quo ante. The only reason to oppose it on social conservative grounds is out of a "not one inch" point of principle.
You can make a more compelling case against the Texas policy on the grounds of overreach or dubious necessity (as Samwise and Whiskey have), but personally I intend to have my daughter vaccinated if that's what our pediatrician suggests.
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Samwise Gamgee:
I've had 3 separate M.D.'s tell me that the HPV vaccine is totally unnecessary if you know you won't be having lots of sex with many different people. Two told me that it is almost purely pharmaceutical propaganda to suggest that the HPV vaccine is "necessary" - which I assume is the reason he would support such an action. · Jul 20 at 2:10pm
This really makes sense to me, but for the fact that one of my good friend's mother died of cervical cancer because her husband had an affair and brought HPV back to her. Tragic. Even if a woman has one/very few sexual partners over her lifetime, that's no guarantee that the fellow(s) shares the same chaste habits.
Apr '11
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
This is one of those issues where conservatives get stupid. 27% of all the women in the US have HPV. HPV ignored leads to cancer and subsequent death. HPV not ignored leads to annual checkups, false positives, invasive medical procedures and still results in cancer and death. The younger the woman the higher the rate. Somewhere between 25-45% of women age 20-24 have contracted HPV. In other words more and more women are contracting the virus. This is easily preventible with a vaccine like whooping cough. The savings of medical costs, tax money and human suffering should make the case. If that doesn't clinch it how about considering the preventible prolonged illness and slow death of some woman you love?
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 2:52pmDec '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
True, but it is incredibly common, and often does not have physical symptoms, especially for males. According to the CDC 50% of sexually active men and women have it. When that info is combined with the fact that larger and larger numbers of women are sexually assaulted or are the victims of date rape, for me it is simply a good common sense precaution.
Jun '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Even if a woman has one/very few sexual partners over her lifetime, that's no guarantee that the fellow(s) shares the same chaste habits.
True enough. There are many other diseases... HIV, AIDS, STD's, that are much more likely to result from similar behavior.
Gardasil protects against only 4 of the over 100 strains of human papillomavirus and many would argue that the side effects from the vaccine out weigh the low levels of protection it provides.
Perry received $27,000 from Merck before the 2007 legislation... so... there's your answer.
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 3:18pmJun '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Isn't it wonderful that you have that choice? Enjoy such choices while they last.
Ah, less than 10 posts for someone to claim that social conservatives are stupid or nuts for thinking certain things. My wife and I thought it would be less than 5, but congratulations none the less.
The problem with this flawed thinking, so common to those who do not know or consider all of the evidence, is that there is plenty of medically supported evidence and personal opinion from M.D.s to suggest conservatives are not in fact "stupid" on this issue. Since the FDA has claimed Gardasil is "safe," feel free to go nuts. If you feel comfortable with the literature on the issue, feel free. The fact that only 2% of HPV infections actually lead to cervical cancer, and the presence of very dangerous side effects that are associated with Gardasil mean that my daughters won't be getting it.
But, I'm just hillbilly conservative, what do I know?
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 3:19pmApr '11
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I don't like that Perry mandated this vaccine regardless of its merits. But it's not a deal breaker for me. We need to defeat Obama in 2012, and we need a strong conservative to roll back the damage he's done. I think Perry is the guy to do it.
Sep '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I also have questions about the long term efficacy of that drug and whether the numerous strains of the virus are guarded against. That said, here's Thomist Christopher Kaczor writing on the issue in First Things:
Edited on Jul 20, 2011 at 3:21pmRe: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Pseudodionysius: I also have questions about the long term efficacy of that drug and whether the numerous strains of the virus are guarded against. That said, here's Thomist Christopher Kaczor writing on the issue in First Things:
Edited on Jul 20 at 03:21 pm
Jul 20 at 3:20pm
Thanks for this excerpt. This is what my own thinking is beginning to look like now that I flesh it out.
May '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I agree with Misthiocracy and Samwise, though I am sympathetic to Humza's point. Government should not have the authority to force preventative drugs on citizens for any reason other than a fatal epidemic. If Samwise is correct, HPV hardly qualifies.
It's not a deal-breaker, given the political circumstances. I'm sure Perry is not above rewarding lobbyists, but who in the presidential race is?
Consider that influenza kills many people every year, yet we do not accept mandatory immunizations for the flu every year. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." HPV is among many common biological dangers, but perhaps is better advertised. Compare breast cancer awareness and funding to that of prostate cancer.
Jun '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
"Gardasil protects against only 4 of the over 100 strains of human papillomavirus and many would argue that the side effects from the vaccine out weigh the low levels of protection it provides."
Exactly. It's a terrible vaccine and has horrible side effects.
"But again, the harsh reality is that so few parents are able to communicate about such sensitive and potentially awkward topics with their children. So is there not a case to be made for schools to set aside a small portion of the health class curriculum to discuss such matters?"
Do you really think a teacher is more qualified than a parent? I honestly don't know a single parent who finds sex so awkward a topic that they would prefer to relegate this huge responsibility to teachers. Where are you getting your information that "so few parents are able to communicate" about sex? Sexual topics are impossible to teach outside a value system & I wouldn't assume teachers shared mine.
Sex ed and manditory vaccinations for STDs are two different topics, though.
Jul '11
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
I showed my teenage children pictures from a dermatology book with horrific STD's. That was rather amusing.
Perry declares himself to not be above the nanny state with this action. I'd still vote for him though. Samwise, I believe his wife also had Merck associations, this being the same Merck that institutionalized lying among their Vioxx reps.
Oct '10
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
"... he bypassed the Texas Legislature and signed an executive order mandating that all girls entering the sixth grade receive a vaccine that helps protect from some strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV)..."
This is the phrase that speaks to my concern about Perry as President. Don't we already have a President who is all to willing to subvert the lawmaking process by executive fiat?
Re: Rick Perry, Social Conservatives, and the HPV Vaccine
Diane, I am with you on the question of abstinence, and I object fiercely to the species of sexual education given in the public schools. But I think Perry right about the vaccinations. It is, to my mind, a public health question. A woman who has abstained can easily enough get the disease from a man who did not.
Suppose there were a vaccine that could prevent syphilis and gonorrhea. Would it not be sensible to require that everyone get vaccinated?