Skip navigation.
The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

Either You're With Me, or You're With The Cancer

Governor Perry has taken a page from President Bush's war-selling, terrorist-fighting play book. The Governor has drawn a line in the Austin sand. The stage is set with Governor Perry on one side, Republicans on the other, and Democrats standing aside awaiting for the drama to unfold. Perry is daring the legislature, essentially claiming that if they're so hell bent on young girls getting cancer, they should go ahead and pass legislation to obstruct his life saving executive order. If the legislature does side with the cancer, Governor Perry is then prepared to veto the legislation, saving the day for young girls all across Texas — and some from Mexico.

Yet many Republicans are crying foul, arguing the cancer-preventing vaccine works against all the money that's been spent on abstinence-only sex education, and infringes too much on families' personal decisions.

I don't know. Maybe they have a point. Is it reasonable to think that young girls, after receiving the vaccination, will feel they have just been given a license to have as much premarital sex as their hearts desire? Could this lead to Texas moving from second to first in teenage birthrates across the nation? I'm not sure, but what I am sure of is that these Republicans appear to be more concerned with a young girl's right to choose over an innocuous vaccination than her right to choose concerning an unwanted pregnancy. Nevertheless, Governor Perry has put his Republican colleagues in a precarious position: either you're with him, or you're with the cancer.

Syndicate content