A bill that eliminates a minor’s legal right to consent to vaccinations against sexually transmitted infections has advanced in the Iowa Senate despite united opposition from Iowa’s medical community.
SF 2064 would revise an existing state law that gives minors the legal capacity to provide the necessary consent for them to receive medical care related to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a sexually transmitted disease or infection from a hospital, clinic or physician.
The bill amends the law to create an exemption specially for vaccinations related to sexually transmitted diseases — in essence, requiring the consent of a parent, custodian, or guardian for such treatment.
No lobbyists have registered as supporting the bill. It is opposed by the Iowa Nurse Practitioners Society, Iowa Nurses Association, Iowa Primary Care Association, Iowa Medical Society, Iowa Public Health Association, the Iowa chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Blank Children’s Hospital, among others.
At a Wednesday meeting of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Sen. Zach Wahls, a Johnson County Democrat, spoke out against the bill. He cited the public health risks associated with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can lead to cancer and has infected tens of millions of Americans, many of whom are in their teens.
“We know that the HPV vaccine, which was the focus of the conversation in our subcommittee, is a proven and reliable cancer-prevention tool,” Wahls said. “And we know it is particularly critical for Iowa because, as recent studies have shown, our state has the second highest rate of cancer in the United States — second only to Kentucky. Additionally, Iowa is the only state in the country that actually has a rising — rather than a flat or declining — cancer incidence rate.
“According to the CDC, HPV is estimated to cause 36,000 cases of cancer every single year, and if those Americans had received the HPV vaccine, that number would be cut by over 92 percent,” Wahls said. “This bill will be harmful to young Iowans by limiting their access to effective preventative health care, which is why almost every major medical organization in this state is registered as being against this legislation.”
Wahls argued the bill was designed to “appease a narrow segment of Iowans at the expense of Iowans more broadly.”
The floor manager of the bill, Rep. Kevin Alons, a Woodbury County Republican, didn’t speak to the merits of the bill but did note that it deals strictly with 12- to 15-year-old minors and that it “aligns with” other GOP-backed parental rights legislation passed during the 2023 session.
That legislation requires school libraries to remove books with written or visual depictions of sex acts and prohibits teachers from providing K-6 students with instruction involving “gender identity” and “sexual orientation.” It also requires schools to seek written parental permission if a child asks to use a name or pronoun differing from what they were assigned at birth.
On a party-line vote of 10-5, with Republicans supporting the measure, the vaccination bill advanced out of the Senate committee for consideration by the full chamber.
Clark Kauffman is the deputy editor of the Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this story was first published on Feb. 14, 2024.
