The Iowa Senate passed a bill that requires parental consent for minors to receive the HPV vaccine in Iowa. Currently, children are allowed to consent to the vaccine without parental approval.
Senate File 304 brings the HPV vaccine in line with all other vaccines on the Iowa Childhood Immunization Schedule and CDC Immunization Schedule in that parental consent will be required.
Democrat State Sen. Janet Petersen spoke against the bill. She said at a time Iowa has the second-highest cancer rates in the country, the state should be doing all it can to prevent cancer. This bill, though, puts kids at risk and “assumes all kids are being raised in safe environments with loving parents.”
“The truth is more children in Iowa are survivors of child sexual abuse than any one of us wants to believe,” Petersen said. “And oftentimes that abuse is occurring in the very house where they’re being raised.”
Petersen said the bill removes a child’s ability to protect their body and puts that decision in the hands of “someone who is raping them.”
“We should not be passing legislation that puts children’s bodies at risk,” she said. “Do not vote for a bill that makes life harder for kids who are enduring child sex abuse. When are we going to work on cancer prevention instead of coming after the very things that could help prevent it?”
Republican State Sen. Sandy Salmon, who managed the bill, said the HPV vaccine carries risks and side effects, along with potentially serious risks of reaction, and parents should be in the room to discuss the risks and provide consent prior to administration.
