Bill mandating HPV vaccine ignites debate: Virus can cause cervical cancer, but some object vaccine on religious grounds.

Byline: Sonya Sorich

Mar. 1--Tina Lyman of Harris County still vividly remembers when, as a 16-year-old, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and told by a doctor the condition would prevent her from having children. "I felt like I was less of a woman," said Lyman, 36. "It was almost like mourning a loss for something I never had." But Lyman did go on to have children -- daughters who are 11 and 12 now, old enough to see the emergence of a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. News of the vaccine's approval last June made Lyman ecstatic. "Excellent," she said, describing her reaction. "I was exceptionally happy." Her two daughters have since started receiving doses of the vaccine, called Gardasil. But not everyone shares Lyman's enthusiasm. The vaccine targets cervical cancer and other female diseases caused by some forms of human papillomavirus, or HPV. Because the virus is transmitted through sexual contact, and its…