Texas Legislature Reverts to Form, Votes to Let Women Keep Suffering Cancer and STDs
The Texas legislature just stamped out Gov. Perry's breath of fresh air and reason. Gov. Perry had ordered that all Texas schoolgirls entering grade six (about 12 years old) should be vaccinated against human papillomavirus.
No-one was going to be "forced" to get it, no matter what various organizations propagandized. Instead of being an "opt-out" requirement, people now have to opt in. And my guess is it'll cost more than the projected $300 for a statewide program.
Bascially: In a 119-21 vote, the Texas House decided to let future cervical cancer cases continue to bloom and grow. Or get caught in a pap smear.
Never mind that cancer treatment costs millions (I suppose those costs are covered by insurance and the patient--not the taxes that pay legislative salaries). Never mind that around 1.4 million Texans have no medical insurance. Never mind that a quarter of the girls who could be vaccinated today will never get a pap smear. And never mind that even if they do, pap smears have to be interpreted by humans and don't always give straightforward results.
Never mind that $300 of prevention can stop cancer cases that cost the state and the victims millions. Never mind that 20 million Americans have this infection and that the numbers are only going to go up. Never mind that prevention could stop pain and suffering for millions of young women (and men--'cos boys get HPV too).
Shortened headline:
Texas Legislature Says '£µ¢λ 'Em'
I wonder--what's the male/female ratio in that @$$#013-eum? Ah yes: about 5:1.
Just never £µ¢λing mind.
posted by Metro @ 1:41 pm
2 Comments:
Bonjour M Metro
Having borrowed Philipa's magic carpet & FFE's wonderful dog to go on a Metro-FlourBombing Raid, I've had to abort the Mission, because I find myself (again) agreeing with M Metro & almost (but not quite) as bloody annoyed
It is very sad, especially as we are going to see so many little people's tragedies - tragedies which could and should be avoidable
In Inglaterra in the 1850's, there seems to have been a great movement for Public Drainage/Clean Water
The population had been expandng rapidly, especially in the Cities ... it gradually dawned on the Rich that Typhus & drainage/water-borne diseases did not respect class distinctions ... and that if the Poor (who then didn't have the vote) caught these diseases, they would be more likely to be passed on to the Rich as well
Therefore, everyone supported building good drains & clean-water pipes - the Victorians built so well that it is only now after 150 years that these Rooineks are having to renew them
The rich Folk of the Lone Star State need to appreciate that sexually-transmitted diseases do not respect class boundaries - if Texas allows such diseases to flourish amongst the Poor who tend to vote democrat, disease will also infect decent Rich republican voters as well
I don't think the Good Lord is happy about the Texans' unNeighbourly actions
Your obedt servt etc
G Eagle
Vielen Dank, Mein Guttes Eagle:
Much more elegantly put than my post. The heat of anger is a useful engine for posting blogs in the same sense in which an atomic pile makes a good motor for your bass boat. It gets the job done, but it's inappropriate and tends to rather overdo things.
I found myself in a reasoning rage. This is such a small and simple thing. For $300 per girl the state could eliminate hundreds of cervical cancer cases, save money, and wipe out indescribable suffering.
I should say again that I'm personally invested in this issue. I sat with an ex-gf while she received electric arc treatment for venereal warts, held her hand after pap tests and uterine/cervical lining scrapes, and lived alongside her and her kids through three operations which removed roughly eight inches in total from the neck of her cervix. I wish every single one of the "no" voters could experience that. They'd change their votes in a hurry.
Unfortunately this seems to be a "values" issue, like condoms against AIDS in Africa (a practice the Bush administration refuses to sponsor).
There should be a mechanism under which public health issues respond to something greater than the grubby little meritless political aspirations of grubby little meritless people without vision.
It sometimes astounds me that we don't still wear fur coats in the desert against the "noxious fluxes" and try to work up a good stink to keep away the demons of ill-health.
Of course in Texas, stinking still seems to be popular, at least in political arenas.
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