Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Rick Perry Admits Mistake on Gardasil-HPV Vaccine Decision

by Steven Ertelt

http://www.lifenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/perry4.jpg(LifeNews.com) On his first day on the campaign trail, Texas Gov. Rick Perry admitted he made a mistake on the sole issue some pro-life advocates bring up as a concern despite his sterling pro-life record...

Perry, in a conversation with a New Hampshire voter, walked back his decision to mandate the vaccine Gardasil to 11-year old girls....

“I made a mistake on that,” Perry told Iowa Radio later in the day Monday, calling it “an error in not having a conversation with the people of the state of Texas...”

The mandate for girls to get vaccinated against the cervical cancer-causing HPV virus came in 2007. The Gardasil drug was developed by Merck to prevent the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the most commonly-transmitted sexual disease in the U.S. that is responsible for 70% of cervical cancer cases and 90% of genital warts...

...Pro-life advocates and conservatives reacted strongly to the mandate and said the only way young girls would get the disease is if they engaged in sexual activity — prompting a call for more promotion of abstinence education, which Perry favors, instead. After the outcry, Perry allowed a bill to become law that the Texas legislature approved to backtrack on the decision, making it so young girls are no longer required to get the vaccine.

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