Legislation to defer mandatory vaccinations of schoolgirls against a virus that can cause cervical cancer won House passage on Monday.

The one-year delay in the only law in the nation that requires young girls to be inoculated against human papillomavirus passed on a 57-39 vote.

If the bill is passed in the Senate and signed by the governor, it would delay the effective date of the required vaccinations from the fall of 2009 to the same time in 2010.

Opponents of the bill argued that the vaccine could save lives by preventing cancer later in women's lives. They compared it to ignoring vaccines that eradicated polio 50 years ago.

Supporters, however, argued that parents still had the right to allow their daughters to receive vaccinations.