South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a page from the Michele Bachmann Book of Ill-Informed Health Policy on Tuesday by vetoing a bill that would offer an optional HPV vaccine to seventh-graders.
The sexually-transmitted virus is a leading cause of cervical cancer, a disease for which South Carolina ranks ninth in the country for related deaths. HPV is easily prevented by the vaccine, but health professionals say it should be administered before a girl starts having sex in order to be effective.
“This bill had bi-partisan support and gives optional education and preventative vaccines to adolescents in an effort to thwart cervical cancer,” said Rep. Bakari Sellers (D-Denmark), who introduced the bill. “This is a common sense approach to a very serious problem.”
But in vetoing the bill, Gov. Haley called Sellers’ plan “a precursor to another taxpayer-funded health care mandate” — even though the vaccine does not rely on taxpayer funding and is not mandatory.
In fact, Haley co-sponsored a bill back in 2007 that would have made the vaccine mandatory. But that was before she became “National Nikki,” and began kowtowing to the scientifically-challenged policies of a party that seems to be going to war against women’s health.
“Her political shift shows that this decision was politically motivated, and not in the best interest of South Carolina’s young adults,” said women’s health advocate Emma Davidson of the Tell Them e-advocacy network. “Protecting young people’s rights to prevent diseases, including HPV, should be a top priority for our policy makers.”
“With this veto, Nikki Haley has confirmed everyone’s suspicions that she puts her own selfish political ambitions ahead of the people of South Carolina,” Sellers commented on Tuesday. “To call this measure unnecessary is demeaning and insulting to the heroic women who fight this cancer everyday. I am deeply disappointed that politics once again has prevailed over women’s health.”
Lawmakers will have an opportunity to override Gov. Haley’s veto during a special session of the General Assembly. While the Senate supported the bill 40-2 during debate, it only passed 63-40 in the House — so it remains to be seen whether lawmakers can muster up the majority needed to break the veto. The General Assembly has traditionally overriden the vast majority of Gov. Haley’s vetoes, so look for updates on this one as they develop.
Typical.
Welcome to South Carolina where common sense public policy comes to die.
There is a special place in hell for this woman. She can’t go there fast enough.
Any bill containing the word sex will ultimately be denied in SC.
Bet she gets her daughter vaccinated, if she hasn’t already.
Queen Nimrata believes health care should be reserved for the wealthy and powerful. The rest of us, not so much.
OMG, I’m sick just reading this. Striking down access to an OPTIONAL vaccine which prevents cervical CANCER? What is going on here?! I truly hope that South Carolinians flood the legislative offices with phone calls, e-mails, letters (they log every contact!) until they are overloaded with demands to support availability of the vaccine. Good luck SC.
With all due respect to the other posters on this subject, there are about 8,000 cases of cervical cancer in the United States per year. Of those, the majority are women over 80. To vaccinate pre-teen girls when their chances of getting cervical cancer are almost nil, is overkill to begin with. But when you know that the vaccine only prevents a tiny percentage of the viruses that cause cervical cancer, it becomes even more overkill. And , last but not least, the side-effects from this injection have been the most serious and most often-occurring of all the vaccines given to date. I personally spoke to a doctor who now recommends against giving the vaccine for all of the above reasons and also because, in his words, “I’ve seen girls keel over in the office the minute they were injected. I don’t know what is in this stuff.”
So. I don’t know why the governor in NC vetoed the bill. But to me this is just another drug that has minimal positive impact, if at all and may have major negative impact on the girls who have it. Is this just another ruse for big pharma to make money and causing more health problems–maybe even sterility– in the population to boot? No one in my family will be getting this vaccine. I recommend doing some research and educating yourselves before letting your kids get injected with this questionable drug.
Correction: South Carolina, SC.