The Virginia Senate on Monday killed a bill that would have lifted requirements that all Virginia girls receive the vaccine for the human papillomavirus before entering 6th grade.
A couple Republicans joined Democrats in voting to send the bill back to committee, passing on it until at least the end of the year.
The bill previously passed the Republican dominated House of Delegates overwhelmingly, but hit a roadblock in the Senate Monday after failing to win support from the chamber’s 20 Republicans.
HPV is a sexually transmitted disease known to cause cervical cancer. In 2007, the state added the vaccine to the list of inoculations children must receive before advancing in school.
Parents now can request that their daughters not be vaccinated. The bill would have flipped the program so that no students would have to undergo the vaccination unless the parents requested it.
It’s the second women’s health bill to pass the House and die at the hands of the full Senate. Last week, Republican leaders joined with Democrats to kill the so-called “personhood” bill, which granted legal and civil rights to fetuses, in the Senate.
