Groups back HPV vaccine for girls

Conservative Christian groups say they support vaccinating female students against a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer as long as parental opt-out provisions remain.

The District, Maryland and Virginia have joined at least eight states in proposing that girls as young as 11 who attend public schools receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Under proposed legislation, it would become one of several required immunizations for public school children in the region.

The American Cancer Society issued guidelines for the vaccine yesterday, including a recommendation that 11- and 12-year-old girls get the series of shots.

The Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family supports the development and availability of HPV vaccines, but opposes mandatory HPV vaccinations for public school entry.

“This is not a sexually transmitted infection that a student is going to contract by sitting in the classroom,” said Linda Klepacki, the organization’s analyst for sexual health. “It really is a parental rights issue.”

The conservative District-based Family Research Council supports the vaccine but considers abstinence the best protection against HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Bristol, Tenn.-based Christian Medical & Dental Associations also supports abstinence over vaccination but acknowledges the reality that not all teenagers will abstain from sex.

“There is a better option: abstinence, if young girls will choose that,” said Dr. Gene Rudd, the organization’s senior vice president. “Parents can’t choose that for their children.”

The group supports HPV vaccinations for public school entry as long as state law allows for parental opt-outs, said Dr. Rudd, an obstetrician and gynecologist.

“If the law is there, there is going to be better utilization, and that’s a positive,” he said. “Because there are effective alternatives, parents ought to be able to say no.”

Dr. Rudd added that he would advise parents to have their daughters vaccinated. “I want my granddaughter to get vaccinated,” he said. “There are no-fault reasons she might be exposed, such as assault or marrying someone who has been exposed, and I don’t want her to get the disease.”

About 20 million people in the United States are infected with HPV, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women contract HPV at some point in their lives, but the virus usually clears up on its own without ever showing symptoms, the CDC said.

At least 80 percent of women contract the virus by age 50, and about 6.2 million Americans are infected with HPV each year, the CDC said.

The American Cancer Society estimates there will be about 11,150 cases of cervical cancer in the United States this year, and that 3,670 women will die from the disease.

All 50 states and the District allow vaccination opt-outs for medical reasons, and every state except Mississippi and West Virginia allows religious exemptions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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