Common Sense

The only time I have ever said “Hey, I think Rick Perry is right,” (and it was hard to say. I had to have a shot of gin afterward.) was when he wrote the executive order to vaccinate every girl over the age of 12 with Gardasil to prevent infection with certain strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer. Regardless of ulterior motives, it was the right thing to do.

But the Lege was having none of it. Why make vaccination mandatory when you can pass a bill, HB 1379, that makes available “educational material” about HPV that will probably never make it into the hands of those who need it most.

The same people who put a stop to the executive order are the same people who funded the billboard I see when I drive to work everyday that says

Don’t be fooled

Chastity is the only foolproof method

Stay away from Planned Parenthood!!

Did I mention it has one scary fucking clown as part of the ad? You keep kids from ever going to Planned Parenthood, even though “that younger women are at greater risk of human papillomavirus infection than older women” which leads to cervical cancer according to HB 1379, they don’t get the information, they don’t get Pap smears and the fact that McLennan County has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state attests to the fact that girls in my area aren’t going the chastity route. It’s a recipe for mommy and daddy letting their little princess get cervical cancer to teach her an important lesson about morals.
In my view, it is blatant child abuse not to get your daughter vaccinated with Gardasil when she turns 12. HPV can be transmitted without sex, just skin-to-skin contact. If someone scratches their genital warts then shakes your hand, then you have just received HPV!

It’s like some of these parents really do want their kids to get cervical cancer and die. And that’s just too horrible to contemplate, but their attitude about sex education and making sure that their kids have the info and protection they need leads me to that conclusion.

And studies are showing that Gardasil does nothing for pre-existing infections. So once you have it, you have it. It’s much better to prevent infection than hope that teenagers don’t have sex. Every study ever done shows that abstinence-only education doesn’t work.