HPV vaccine fuels familiar battle.

Byline: Emily Ramshaw

AUSTIN, Texas _ Advocates of mandatory HPV vaccines for Texas schoolgirls rest their case on sound science _ medical evidence that a few shots could nearly eradicate the sexually transmitted disease and the cancer it can cause.

Their opponents, who fear sending mixed messages on premarital sex, are fighting to protect the fundamental parental rights: knowing what's best for your own children.

It's the latest frontier in the war between social conservatives and the science community. And its front line is in Texas.

But in this battle between personal values and medical reasoning, the sparring sides are drifting onto each other's turf. Public health experts question the moral judgment of parents who deny daughters the vaccine. Religious conservatives are questioning the validity of the medical studies on the drug and its usefulness.

Scientists and ethicists say they have anticipated debates over abortion, stem cell research, the teaching of evolution and end-of-life treatment, but they didn't see the HPV vaccine uproar coming. Now that it's here _ prompted by Texas Gov. Rick Perry's order to require the vaccine and legislation in dozens of other states to do the same _ it's not going away.

"I'm a little staggered by it, honestly," said Chris Mooney, an author who chronicled the ongoing fight between social conservatives and researchers in his best-selling book "The Republican War on Science." "A lot of people didn't think this would escalate to the scale of other fights. But it's really erupting."

On…