Six weeks after Texas Governor Rick Perry issued an executive order making his state the first to require that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, the State House of Representatives voted 119-21 on Tuesday to approve a bill that would nullify the order.
If the Senate also approves the bill, the measure will go to Perry, a Republican, whose office declined to say whether he would veto it.
But Perry's spokeswoman said the efforts to overturn the order would create a dangerous situation in which far fewer women might receive the vaccine.
The spokeswoman, Krista Moody, said that Perry's order simply threw the weight of the governor's office behind the Health and Human Services Commission, the state agency that would administer the vaccine.
The order mandated shots of the Merck vaccine Gardasil as protection against the human papillomavirus (HPV), starting in September next year.
While it was praised by health advocates, it caught many by surprise in a largely conservative state where sexual politics are often hard fought and where both houses of the legislature are controlled by Republicans.
It also raised questions about the governor's ties to Merck. The company's lobbyist in Austin, Mike Toomey, was chief of staff for Perry from 2002 to 2004, as well as for a Republican predecessor, William Clements.
Moody said in a statement that the order "would help to protect 95 percent of young women in Texas against the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer."
"The governor," she said, "believes we should protect as many young women as possible -- rich and poor, insured and uninsured -- while maintaining parents' rights to opt their daughter out of receiving the vaccine."
The chief sponsor of the House legislation, Republican State Representative Dennis Bonnen said: "We believe that parents and doctors should make an informed decision based on their daughters' specific personal situation. By no means am I or the members who voted for this bill saying that parents with their own choosing should not give this vaccination to their child."
Two other states are on the cusp of adopting their own cancer immunization requirements.
In Virginia, Governor Timothy Kaine, Democrat, has indicated he will sign a vaccination bill, which is already on his desk, before March 26.
In New Mexico, Democratic Governor Bill Richardson has also pledged to sign cancer vaccination legislation.
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