This subject was on the news yesterday, and we got into a lively discussion about this over dinner. The Texas governor wants to mandate that every sixth grade girl in Texas be vaccinated for this virus that can lead to cervical cancer. There are many who are opposed to having this vaccination, because they think that it will lead to sexual promiscuity in young girls.

In our house, we had three votes for and two against. For: me, Ed, and my niece. Against: my mother-in-law, and my daughter. Sex grosses out my daughter now, and doesn't like needles, and doesn't understand why she would need this. But a person does not always choose the moment they become sexually active, what if she was a rape victim? Would a hospital prevent her from receiving the necessary help? I already know there was an incident in a nearby hospital that refused to administer the abortion pill to women who were raped. I know that I could possibly proceed with a rape-induced pregnancy, but I am not prepared to make that decision for my daughter if the situation ever arose. Should this be a mandatory vaccination?

Actually, I have this virus, as did my mother, and she had a hysterectomy at age 38. I am going in next month to see if they can fix the problem by removing part of my cervix. Does anyone know the name of the operation I am going in for? I already had the colposcopy, now they are going to do a 'scraping'. But I want a better description when I tell people about it.

When you get a paps test, they check for abnormal cells. If your results come back as abnormal, they do a colposcopy and then a cervical biopsy . A biopsy is like a potato peeler taking a very small piece of your cervix to be tested. If the biopsy comes back as precancer cells, they normally do a cervical freezing of the cells. The precancer cells are frozen and shed. This is only done to the areas of the cervix which are precancerous. The procedure is called Cryotherapy . (freezing of the cells).

P.S. I vote no on the mandatory HPV vaccine for young girls. I think more testing needs to be done.

I think it is early in the life of the vaccine to know the long-term effects and how beneficial it would be, but I would vote for it. VV brings up a great point about rape and not always choosing your sex partner. If I were not monogamous, or even though I am and was within the age range, I would probably see about getting the vaccine for myself. Prevention goes a long way.