Saturday, March 17, 2007

“Hands Off Our Kids” Coalition Wins in Texas!



Through the united efforts of the many organizations and individuals of the “Hands Off Our Kids” Coalition we have made significant progress in halting the progress of HPV vaccine in legislatures across the county.


The biggest news is in Texas, where the legislature has passed a bill overturning the Governor’s Executive Order with enough votes to kill his likely veto. Dawn Richardson and the PROVE folks worked tirelessly there.

In California, the bill’s own sponsor tabled it this week because he realized he didn’t even have enough votes to get it out of committee, much less pass the Assembly.

Washington and New Mexico have passed bills that call for information-distribution only, not a mandate. And Wyoming has expanded funds to be available for low-income girls to receive the vaccine. Women picketed the D.C. City Council last week to express their opposition.

Our biggest disappointment is in Virginia, where the newly-elected Tim Kaine (D) signed the mandate into law the beginning of this month.


OTHER GOOD NEWS

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION:


Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-GA) has introduced H.R. 1153, the “Parental Right to Decide Protection Act” that would block all federal funding for any vaccine mandate, including those passed by states! READ THE BILL

HPV VACCINE RESEARCHER BLASTS MANDATE:

A lead researcher who has been working on the HPV vaccine development for more than 20 years has now gone public, saying that the mandate is wrong, and could result in higher rates of cervical cancer. Further, she accuses the drug companies of “overselling” the vaccine as a cancer preventative. READ THE STORY

KEEP UP THE EFFORTS

The obvious lesson here is that where we have concerned parents and activists working on this, we have been able to make a difference.

The Texas example gives us hope for Virginia and other states.

SOURCE: More information to follow!

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