HPV vaccine update

This week, Texas (of all states) became the first state to make the HPV vaccine mandatory for 11-12 year old girls (and also made it mandatory to provide it for free to girls who can't afford it), via an executive order from Governor Rick Perry. South Carolina is also considering a bill, though the abstinence-only-education group The Silver Ring Thing is making a stink over it because they say the vaccine will encourage pre-marital sex, etc etc.

Something interesting (which has been pointed out on some blogs that I have read) is that a lot of the mainstream commentary about this decision is remarking on the fact that Perry is a cultural conservative/"pro-lifer" guy - implying that this decision is clearly inconsistent with those positions. While it is sort of pleasantly surprising that he would do this, I think it's not inconsistent with a truly "pro-life" position... protecting young people from cancer is a very pro-life thing to do if you ask me. The fact that people consider it inconsistent with his anti-abortion stance (and that Christian conservative pro-lifers and the like are bashing him for it) points out that being "pro-life" in this country isn't really about valuing human life and health, but really about wanting to control people's sexual and reproductive lives.

In other news, I talked to my mom and she's down with me getting the vaccine. So yay!