Doc Welch voted against HB2035 requiring vaccinations of girls with the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV). He argued in committee that the drug was being rolled out too soon despite being reminded repeatedly by the bill's sponsor, Phil Hamilton (R-93), that the bill wouldn't go into effect until Oct. 2008 technically, Summer 2009 logistically. And for that one unreasonable reservation, he turned a deaf ear to the extensive medical expert testimony provided, which detailed the break-through effects the HPV vaccine had in making cervical cancer completely preventable and helping to eliminate the disease within our daughters' lifetime. He ignored info from the American Cancer Society estimating that 9,700 women in the U.S. were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2006 and how another 3,700 women die from the disease each year. He ignored info from the CDC that 80% of women will acquire HPV by age 50 and how HPV is transmitted by sexual activity that does not depend on intercourse, and is able to spread through skin-to-skin contact.
Doc Welch voted for Delegate Bob Marshall's total ban on abortion (HB2797) to include the many forms of birth control (Plan B, the pill, the patch, IUDs) that thousands of his constituents use daily. By ignoring the medical definition of pregnancy as adopted by the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, he also voted contrary to the medical science governing in-vitro fertilization and numerous other fertility techniques also employed by numerous of his constituents. He also chose to ignore the medical science trumpeting the benefits of breastfeeding, as support for HB2797 would also outlaw that practices as it makes the uterine lining hostile to implantation and as such may prevent implantation after fertilization.
Doc Welch voted in favor of the "medical science" that weighs a fertilized egg or a blastocyst as more important than a family member with Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Diabetes, cancer, or paralysis. He also voted to close the doors of research to the colleges and universities across Virginia despite the fact that the embryos used for research are only those meant for destruction anyway as they are a product of in vitro fertilization.
Finally, Doc Welch was the only one in committee (20-Y, 1-N) voting against adding Lyme disease to a list of diseases required to be reported to the Department of Health (HB1743). He luckily did his famous "floor flip" and came round for the full House vote in what was then a unanimous vote.
Whaada maroon!