SC House Advances Bill Educating Parents on HPV

A House panel has OK'd a plan to encourage South Carolina parents to get their middle school children vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that causes cancer.

The State newspaper reports that the House’s full Medical, Military and Municipal Affairs Committee approved a bill, which requires the Department of Health and Environmental Control to provide information about the human papillomavirus, known as HPV, to parents of students entering the seventh grade.

The article says that HPV is the nation’s most common sexually transmitted infection, which most sexually active people will get at some time in their lives, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccination would be encouraged, but not required, the paper reports.