Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

AUSTIN (AP) ― Heather Burcham will never get married or have babies. She'll never teach preschool again, and she might not even celebrate her 32nd birthday.

With less than six months to live, one mission is giving meaning to the Houston woman's final days -- making sure no one else develops the cervical cancer that is ending her life too soon.

Burcham was among dozens of people who had hoped to testify late Monday at the first public hearing on Gov. Rick Perry's order requiring schoolgirls to be inoculated against strains of the human papillomavirus that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases.

She had hoped to persuade lawmakers to kill a bill aimed at overriding Perry's order by barring state officials from requiring the vaccine for school attendance. But with the hearing delayed for hours Monday by a tax debate on the House floor and then lengthy testimony from experts for the bill's sponsors, she and many other members of the public had left by the time their names were called.

Ninety state representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of Republican state Rep. Dennis Bonnen's bill, just short of two-thirds of the 150 House members. Fourteen senators are co-sponsoring an identical bill.

Many of the lawmakers oppose the vaccine requirement because they believe it contradicts Texas' abstinence-only sex education policies and strays too far into the lives of families. Others have balked at the $360 cost for the three-shot series and said the vaccine, called Gardasil, is too new to force on children as young as 11 or 12.

Bonnen told the committee members that he believes a vaccine requirement is inappropriate unless the Legislature can be sure the shots are effective and completely safe.

"Until we can say we understand it fully ... we can't give it that good old government seal of approval, which is a mandate," Bonnen said.

Dr. Linda Flower, chairwoman of a group of Christian doctors in Texas, said she too believes the state should wait several years before requiring the vaccine for young girls. Instead, she said she believes older teens and girls in college should be the first to try out the vaccine.

Supporters of Bonnen's bill hope to push it through quickly so they will still be in session to override a potential gubernatorial veto. To override the veto, they'd need the support of two-thirds of both the House and Senate.

Perry has declined to say whether he'd veto the bill, but he has said he is open to changes to his order.

State Rep. Garnet Coleman expressed concerns that the bill was being pushed through too quickly.

"I would have hoped that we would allow the legislative process to deal with this issue a little bit more thoroughly," said Coleman, a Democrat from Houston.

The committee members were in no rush to get through the testimony, however, and as the hours passed several people who wanted to comment left before they had a chance to speak.

Cheryl Swope Lieck had to leave to catch a flight home to Anahuac, near Houston, before she could testify in support of a vaccine requirement.

Lieck, the county attorney for Chambers County, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2002 even though nothing abnormal had ever shown up on her annual pap smears. She said requiring the vaccine would ensure girls of all income levels received the vaccine.

"I just think it's going to save lives in the long run," she told reporters before the hearing began.

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)