California bill mandates pre-teen girls receive vaccinations for sex-transmitted virus
Contact: Campaign for Children and Families, 530-405-4095 x 2, media@aabizhelp.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- AB 16, a controversial bill in the California State Legislature that will virtually mandate HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine shots for all girls entering sixth grade, is stirring a debate about cervical cancer, women’s and children’s health, risk avoidance, promiscuity, informed consent, failed school health programs, government mandates and parental rights.
Early sexual contact and having a number of sexual partners in a lifetime are the highest risk factors for HPV and other sexually-transmitted infections, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly clarified:
“The surest way to eliminate the risk for future genital HPV infections is to refrain from any genital contact with another individual. … The available scientific evidence is not sufficient to recommend condoms as a primary prevention strategy for the prevention of genital HPV infection….”
Dr. Jane Anderson, a San Francisco Bay Area pediatrician, said, “The development of the HPV vaccine is forcing medical providers and the news media to finally acknowledge the truth -- that cervical cancer is a sexually-transmitted disease. It is vitally important that, along with the vaccine, adolescents and parents be provided with complete and accurate medical information, which necessarily includes the risks of unmarried sexual contact.”
Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a California-based pro-family organization, supports the HPV vaccine if it is offered to minors with informed parental consent and an awareness that the vaccination does not provide complete protection against HPV or all of the strains that can lead to cervical cancer. This vaccination program should be accompanied by a strong risk-avoidance message, since sexual abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid all sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).
“The vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer is promising, but without risk-avoidance education, young girls are still being set up for broken promises and broken hearts,” said CCF President Randy Thomasson. “A caring and sensitive policy would offer, not mandate, the HPV vaccine, and would include education on the risks of unmarried sexual contact, because sexual abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method to avoid contracting chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS, other strains of HPV, and out-of-wedlock pregnancy.”
Campaign for Children and Families supports the HPV vaccine policy of The Medical Institute for Sexual Health.
Link to CCF’s full news release here
