No one is going to fall over dead from astonishment if I say "the religious right has gone too far this time." It's neither shocking that they've done it nor that I'm ranting about it. Here's the deal.
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection that in turn causes about 70% of cervical cancers. It kills about 4000 women each year. Let me say that again. It KILLS 4000 women a year. Okay, you heard me. I'll move on.
There is a new vaccine that seems to protect against it; clinical trials are looking good. You can find more information about mortality from cervical cancer as well as the new vaccine here: MedicalGeo. What could be better? Surely, the pro-life position would be to save the lives of 4000 women? Once again, "naive" and "Andrea" go in the same sentence.
The immunization has to happen at about puberty. So the idea is to immunize 12-year-olds. And the religious right is concerned that these 12 year olds will now feel like they have free rein... permission, even.... to be sexually active. Because 12-year-olds are going to decide against being sexually active because of a cancer they might get when they're 60. Has anyone in this camp actually MET any 12-year-olds, for crying out loud????
It's such a ludicrous argument that surely they've noticed that it's ridiculous. Of course, no one with a brain wants 12-year-olds to be sexually active. And having had two 12-year-olds of my very own, I can tell you that premature sexual activity is a very scary thought. Scare parents about this enough and they are very likely to jump onto this unstable bandwagon.
The wagon is unstable because there's not a reliable study to be found that suggests that we can scare kids into behavior that's good for them. Not with sex. Not with drugs. Not even with safe driving.
So, the religious right either believes something that's ridiculous and is trying to convince us to believe it too, or something else is going on. Assume for the moment that they're not stupid (they just think we are). What is their real agenda? It's hard to step back from suggesting that they want women to be virgins until they marry ... or to die.
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