Groups back HPV vaccine for girls

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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."