Let's have a conversation

Friends - here's an article I ran across on Yahoo. It's about the Governor of Texas signing a bill to mandate into law vaccinating sixth grade girls against the human papillomavirus, which is the leading cause of cervical cancer. One in four women aged 14-59 have this virus. This mandate has been voted down in the House, and faces a similar fate in the Senate.

I can't imagine, as a mother, that I wouldn't want my daughter to be protected from this virus, and quite possibly cervical cancer. I am also relatively certain that no matter what you say to teenagers regarding chastity and modesty, their bodies are screaming quite a bit louder than we as parents ever can. (I know, because I can actually remember that far back, through the mists of time.) At the same time, however, I respect that this is a controversial issue, in that the government is trying to mandate a vaccine that can only be caught through sexual intercourse. This is truly offensive to some, but is it realistic to think we can control our teenagers bodies? Through hindsight, I can say that any sex I may have had in my teens (and most of my twenties as well) was not even close to being fulfilling or even good, you couldn't have stopped me with a flamethrower and a pitchfork, and I wish the vaccine had been around then.

Where do you stand on the issue?

UPDATE: Check out the great conversation (I'm coming to this issue later than some of my Texas friends!) on Morethanaminivanmom's site. She sent me a link (in my comments), and it's a great read.