FaxNotes 5/11

• PARENTS POINT TO POSITIVE ASPECTS OF DOWN SYNDROME CHILDREN
• POPE BENEDICT CAUSES “UPROAR” IN BRAZIL OVER EXCOMMUNICATION COMMENT
• TEXAS GOVERNOR LOSES TO PARENTS AND LEGISLATORS ON GARDASIL MANDATE
• PHYSICIANS GROUP SAYS LATEST ABORTION-BREAST CANCER STUDY MISLEADING

FaxNotes 5/11/07

FAX NOTES - 4/27/07

• EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT WOULD PREVENT ABORTION
• TEXAS LEGISLATURE SAYS NO TO HPV VACCINE MANDATE

FaxNotes 4/27/07

HPV vaccine repealed?

All signs indicate that Governor Rick Perry’s Executive Order mandating the HPV vaccine for 6th-grade girls will be repealed by passage of a bill the Texas Legislature, will consider tomorrow.

The information below comes in response to a request from Texas Senator Jane Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. They asked for a ruling on whether the Governor has the authority to issue such an order in the first place.

More to come.

IN INFORMAL OPINION, AG SAYS GOVERNORS EXECUTIVE ORDER HAS NO WEIGHT OF LAW
Confirms analysis reported by attorney Buck Wood and from Judge Scott McCown

Senator Jane Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer just released as statement following a briefing by Attorney General Greg Abbott:

The statement says: "The Attorney General met with both of us, and he answered questions we had regarding the executive order. It appears that RP-65 is, in effect, an advisory order and does not carry the weight of law. The Health and Human Services Commissioner is not required to follow the order. Additionally, a governor cannot, through executive order, authorize an agency to do something it does not already have the authority to do."

Copyright March 12, 2007 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved

HPV BATTLE CONTINUES

The uproar caused by Texas Governor Rick Perry's Executive Order mandating the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) for 6th grade girls caused the drug manufacturer Merck to announce it will no longer lobby states to make the vaccine mandatory for school attendance. FaxNotes, 3/07/07