Recently, Governor Jerry Brown passed a new law allowing girls who are as young as 12 years old to receive the HPV vaccine without parental consent. To say there has not been a positive reaction to this is almost an understatement.
HPV, which stands for Human papillomavirus, has more than 30 types and is mostly transmitted through sexual contact. HPV can also cause cervical cancer in women. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI).
Religious leaders, pro-family organizations and GOP lawmakers say the change would erode parents’ rights to be involved in their children’s medical decisions.
At 12-years-old, most girls can hardly figure out what they want to wear let alone the implications of getting a vaccine of a disease they have not even learned about in a sexual education class.
By taking parenting out of the hands of parents, Governor Brown has essentially slapped every parent of an adolescent in the face.
The challenges of raising a teenager in this day and age are hard enough; parents do not need the government to make it any harder than it already is.
Times may have changed, but that does not mean the governor has to embrace it. Young people seem to be getting sexually active at a younger age, but that does not mean you allow them to be tested without their parents knowledge.
The parents are the ones who need to be worked with the most to help keep the children informed about the dangers of becoming sexually active at a young age.
Instead of allowing girls to get a vaccine for HPV at a young age before they even know what it is, how about we educate them about what the disease is and the consequences of transmitting the disease?
By allowing minors to recieve the vaccine without parental consent the governor is setting a precedent. It starts with HPV, then it goes to gonorrhea, then it gets all the way up to AIDS. Sooner or later children will walk around getting tested and vaccinated for everything and their parents will never know.
You can stop this, Mr. Brown. Do not allow this precedent to continue.