AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A group of families has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Gov. Rick Perry's executive order requiring schoolgirls to be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
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(Photo: AP / Pat Sullivan)Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks at a press conference at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007. Perry defended his order to vaccinate all Texas schoolgirls against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Kenneth Chaiken, the attorney representing the families, said his clients do not believe Perry had the legal authority to issue the order.
The lawsuit was filed in Travis County on Thursday.
Perry wants to require the vaccine for girls entering sixth grade. It protects against strands of human papapillomavirus, or HPV, that cause most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.
Perry, a Republican, has defended the order as critical to saving lives. But it has inflamed conservatives who say it contradicts Texas' abstinence-only sexual education policies and intrudes into family lives.
The governor's order also upset many state lawmakers in his own party, and a bill to override the measure is moving through the state House.
Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the governor is confident he had the authority to issue the order.
"He sees this vaccine as not only a fiscally responsible order but also one that has the potential to save the lives of thousands of women in Texas," Moody said.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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