Parenting Teens

The debate over the vaccine for human papillomavirus(HPV) rages on. I haven’t joined the fray until now, mainly because my fellow 451 Press blogger, Erinn over at Parenting Our Children has had a couple of recent posts on it, and I didn’t want our blogs to overlap. Today, however, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Georgia state senate approved a bill yesterday which would require that girls in Georgia who are entering the sixth grade be vaccinated against HPV. As a resident of Georgia, I decided it was past time for me to enter the fray.

To begin, U.S. Representative Phil Gingrey of Georgia (an OB/GYN and father, as well as a member of Congress) makes a good point in his Editorialin the same paper. Decisions about healthcare should be the responsibility of parents. He believes the Georgia Legislature should not take such a decision away from families. So do I-to a point.

However, I also noted some good point made in the replies to the paper’s Online blog. Among them:

*Nikki’s comment: …”I don’t think anyone wants to have to say to their adult daughter later in
life, ‘You might have avoided this terrible disease if I’d not thought that
getting vaccinated for it would make you promiscuous.’ …This vaccine isn’t
going to make anyone more or less likely to engage in sexual behavior, but it
will reduce the chance that your daughters will develop cancer.
I think that makes this a no-brainer.”

*JJMB’s comment: “This is a slam dunk. No brainer. One shot to prevent a common cancer.
Talk about a miracle.”

Now, of course, there are also a lot of good arguments the other way. Some of them, like Congressman Gingrey, are concerned with turning over too many rights to the government-always a concern. Some of them are religious. Some are concerned over side effects-also always a concern. Many make the tired old argument that giving girls this vaccine is saying to them “Go out and have all the sex you want!”

As far as my opinion on this goes, let me say first that I have a 16-year-old daughter who will definitely be given this vaccine. I’m concerned about side effects, yes,-but I was also concerned about side effects when she had all her normal childhood vaccinations. I’m basically with the contingent that doesn’t see what all the fuss is about. This vaccine can help prevent my daughter getting cancer. I’ve known people who died of cervical cancer. My own mother died of lung cancer. If I can do anything to help prevent my child from getting cancer- Well, like JMMB said, it’s a no-brainer.

I’m also not normally in favor of giving away our rights to the government. But, wait a minute. Aren’t these also our children’s rights that we’re talking about? Don’t they have the right to be given any protection available from a deadly disease? There are many parents out there who simply don’t keep up with things like this. So, what about the girls whose parents never find out about this vaccine? Also, having worked with a lot of children and families, I’ve seen first-hand that there are parents out there (divorced parents, never-married parents, and even parents who are married) who will oppose a medical treatment just to spite the other parents. You know the type. Those parents who turn their children into weapons on their battlegrounds.

So, what should the argument really be about? The rights of parents to make decisions about their children? The rights of children to be protected from this disease? Are they the same argument? Let me know how you feel about the HPV vaccine and the other issues I’ve raised.

Here are some other blogs discussing the same issue:

*Char at Weary Parent
*Gayla at Gayla’s Place
*Sarah Collins Honenberger at Read White Lies
*Angela at Herpes Simplex Help

HPV, HPV vaccine, human papillomavirus, human papillomavirus vaccine, Atlanta Journal-Consitution, Georgia, Georgia State Legislature, Phil Gingrey, teen healthcare, teens, teenagers, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers