For a time, Georgia was poised to become the latest state to require preteen girls to be vaccinated against a virus that causes cervical cancer. A powerful state Republican lawmaker proposed making the vaccine mandatory for girls entering sixth grade, and the governor included $4.3 million in his budget to make it available to some 13,000 girls whose family’s insurance policies wouldn’t cover it. But state lawmakers nixed the plans after aggressive lobbying by religious conservatives, who argued that vaccinating young girls could promote promiscuity. The human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer is transmitted through sexual contact.

Similar proposals were introduced in 23 other states and the District of Columbia, but only Virginia has signed such a mandate into law. Proposals in many states died or were watered down to only provide parents with educational materials instead of requiring the vaccine. In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry signed an executive order requiring vaccinations for sixth-grade girls, but the Legislature then passed a bill blocking the order.

Over the past several months, a vaccine that once was hailed as a breakthrough to prevent cancer deaths has become embroiled in some of the nation’s most politically charged issues: teen sex, parental control, state mandates, a backlash against vaccines and a suspicion of drug companies.

The politics on HPV are getting interesting one set of Republicans is getting money from Merck to push a mandate, while another set is worried about encouraging promiscuity.

-Jim Fossett