Indiana Senate Bill 327 Makes HPV Vaccine Optional for Young Girls

Despite Arguments that the Vaccination Would Sabatoge "abstinence" Message

Indiana Senate Bill 327, which would make it optional for girls entering the sixth grade to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus shown to cause genital warts and cervical cancer, has finally been approved. However, a previous version of the bill, which would have made the vaccinations mandatory, was met with strong opposition from conservatives, pro-lifers and parental rights groups who argue that the vaccination will somehow encourage early sexual activity.

Some even argue that the vaccine would "sabotage our abstinence message". This is an allegation that Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women calls "vacuous and inexcusable". She lost her grandmother to cervical cancer and says she has "two daughters who might be spared that fate with this vaccine".

According the Indianapolis Star, "Under the revised bill, parents of girls would get a warning from the state Department of Health about the link between HPV and cancer. Within 20 days, parents would have to notify the school whether they will or won't vaccinate their children."

Monica Boyer director of Indiana Voice for the Family tells the Star "Were Happy...We want to make sure that it (the bill) stays in that form". She goes on to tell them that she believes opponents are being "unfairly cast as abstinence supporters."

"It doesn't have anything to do with sex," she said. "It's about a lack of study and parental rights."

According to the National Cancer Institute, this year 9,710 cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 3,700 women will die of the disease. The primary cause of cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus in the US today. The CDC estimates that at least 50 percent of people will contract this virus at some time in their life. While there are various strains of the virus, research has concluded that types 16 and 18 are responsible for a large percentage of cervical cancer cases.