Feb 24, 2007 1:27 pm US/Central
Families File Lawsuit To Block Vaccine Order
DALLAS (AP) ―
A group of Dallas-area families have filed a lawsuit seeking to block Gov. Rick Perry's executive order to vaccinate Texas schoolgirls against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Perry, a Republican, has defended the order as critical to saving lives. But it has inflamed conservatives who say it contradicts Texas' abstinence-only sexual education policies and intrudes into family lives. It also upset many state lawmakers in his own party and a bill to override the order is working its way through the state House of Representatives.
Perry wants to require the vaccine, called Gardasil, for girls entering sixth grade as of September 2008. It protects girls and women against strands of human papapillomavirus, or HPV, that cause most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.
Supporters of the vaccine mandate say it offers a unique opportunity to fight a cancer that kills 3,700 American women each year.
Kenneth Chaiken, the attorney representing the families, said he believes it is the first lawsuit filed by families with children who would get the vaccine. He said the families don't believe Perry has the legal authority to issue such an order.
"They are families who very significantly object," Chaiken said.
The lawsuit was filed in Travis County on Thursday.
Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the governor is confident he had the authority to issue the order.
"He takes his job as the leader of the state of Texas very serious. He sees this vaccine as not only a fiscally responsible order but also one that has the potential to save the lives of thousands of women in Texas," Moody said.
The lawsuit also seeks to block any state money from being spent on the vaccine until the legal questions over Perry's authority are resolved, Chaiken said.
"The school-age girls of Texas are not guinea pigs who may be subjected to medial procedures at the apparent whim of Texas' governor," the lawsuit states.
Chaiken said the lawsuit does not raise the moral objection some social conservatives have raised over whether the vaccine will promote premarital sex.
"I am completely disinterested in the moral argument. It has nothing to do with what we're doing," Chaiken said. (The families) believe the governor lacks the legal and constitutional authority to do this."
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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