A lot has been written recently about Rick Perry’s decision to require girls to get the HPV vaccine. He now says he made a mistake and should have made it opt in, instead of opt out. It is worth nothing that, contrary to a lot of reports, there was an opt-out provision.

Nonetheless, while everyone is writing about it right now, I wrote about it back in 2007 when the fight was actually happening. You can read it here but since the site is loading slowly, I’ve reposted below the fold.

I stand by my post made at the time. I’d also note that by the time I wrote the post in July of 2007, the issue was already moot in Texas. Perry had backed down under legislative pressure well before then. Hat tip to WILLisms for reminding me of that fact in the comments.

By the way, you know what’s funny about this? About three weeks ago I was on Anderson Cooper’s show and said that this very issue would be one of the most significant stumbling blocks Rick Perry would face early on. The lady I was on with, I think from Center for American Progress, laughed and was surprised I thought it was a big deal.

In other words, this issue only really resonates on the right.

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A lot has been written recently about Rick Perry’s decision to require girls to get the HPV vaccine. He now says he made a mistake and should have made it opt in, instead of opt out. It is worth nothing that, contrary to a lot of reports, there was an opt-out provision.

Nonetheless, while everyone is writing about it right now, I wrote about it back in 2007 when the fight was actually happening. You can read it here but since the site is loading slowly, I’ve reposted below the fold.

I stand by my post made at the time. I’d also note that by the time I wrote the post in July of 2007, the issue was already moot in Texas. Perry had backed down under legislative pressure well before then. Hat tip to WILLisms for reminding me of that fact in the comments.

By the way, you know what’s funny about this? About three weeks ago I was on Anderson Cooper’s show and said that this very issue would be one of the most significant stumbling blocks Rick Perry would face early on. The lady I was on with, I think from Center for American Progress, laughed and was surprised I thought it was a big deal.

In other words, this issue only really resonates on the right.

Read More →