A bill in the General Assembly aims to reduce South Carolina women’s risk of contracting cervical cancer, but opponents say it could promote sexual promiscuity.

In the fall of 2009, 12-year-old girls would not be allowed to start school unless they have been vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, according to a bill proposed by Rep. Joan Brady, R-Richland.

The Cervical Cancer Prevention Act would mandate the vaccination in an effort to stem the spread of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that causes the majority of cervical cancer cases.

South Carolina public schools enroll about 54,000 seventh-graders annually. It is unclear how many are female.

“I would like for South Carolina to be the first, if not one of the first, in the nation to implement what is a prevention for a cancer,” Brady said. “But, as with any legislation, even the best of ideas — even a cure for cancer — is being met with some opposition.”

Leaders in the Silver Ring South Carolina organization, which promotes abstinence until marriage, think the legislation could send the wrong message.

“The concern would be that it would give the impression that if you get the vaccine, that you would somehow be safe to have sex,” said Kevin Caiello, Silver Ring administrative director.

Money for the vaccines would be better spent on education about sexually transmitted diseases, said Dr. James Stands, a gynecologist with S.C. OB-GYN Associates in Columbia and a Silver Ring board member.

“I wish they’d mandate telling kids the truth about how you get HPV,” Stands said. “They don’t tell you that you can’t get it unless you have sex with somebody infected with the virus.”

The vaccine protects against the four strains of HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital-warts cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By age 50, at least 80 percent of women are infected with one of the more than 100 strains of HPV. The CDC said 12,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2002 and nearly 4,000 women died from it that year.

South Carolina has the nation’s third-highest incidence rate of cervical cancer; as many as 90 percent of women are infected with the virus by middle-age, Brady says.

The federal Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine, called Gardasil, in June.

“We’re telling everybody about (the vaccine),” said Columbia pediatrician Guy Castles. “Some families are very against it because they feel like this is a disease caused by immoral acts” and a proper upbringing will prevent their children from engaging in behavior that would put them at risk.

But most families are readily accepting the vaccine, which is administered in a series of three shots spread over a six-month period, Castles said. Some families initially steered away from the vaccine because private insurance carriers wouldn’t cover its $360 to $450 cost. As of Jan. 1, though, most insurance companies are covering it, Castles said.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, which oversees school vaccination requirements, has asked lawmakers for $2 million to buy vaccines for disadvantaged girls ages 9 to 18 who don’t qualify for free vaccines under Medicaid or other federal programs.

Rep. Kris Crawford, R-Florence, is a first-year lawmaker, a conservative and an emergency-room physician. He plans to have his four daughters vaccinated, but he also will propose a friendly amendment to Brady’s bill that would make it easier for families to opt out of the mandate.

DHEC allows families to file a religious exemption, which requires a notarization. But other required vaccines in the state protect children from diseases that are easily contracted among children and in close quarters such as schools.

“It’s not like they’re putting somebody at risk by going to school without this (HPV) vaccination,” Crawford said.

Another conservative, Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, said he’s watching for more convincing scientific evidence beyond the FDA approval to see how well the vaccine works.

“The science has to be there,” said Fair, who also is concerned about a strict mandate. “(But) if the science is there, how could you not support it?”

Reach Michals at (803) 771-8532. Staff writer John O’Connor contributed.