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Once again, we can thank right-wing lunatics for attempting to create barriers to women’s health with no scientific evidence whatsoever, and drug companies for exploiting women’s health concerns for fun and profit. Back in July, Jessica at Bush v. Choice reported that a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) (produced by Merck and offered as Gardasil) was approved over objections from conservative religious groups. HPV is a sexually transimitted disease that is a leading cause of cervical cancer. Protestors claimed that the vaccine will lead young women to be more promiscuous since they won’t fear the consequences of their slutty actions.
The furor is not over yet. Alex at Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting sent me an email today linking to a story that ran on October 27 by the CBS affiliate in Boston. As Massachusetts considers requiring the HPV vaccine to be administered to girls before they enter sixth grade, that old Madonna/whore complex was rolled out again, despite a clause that would allow parents to opt out for religious reasons.
Evelyn Reilly, with the Massachusetts family institute [sic], says vaccinations should be the decision of parents not the state and she worries about the message. “I think it would provide a false sense of security, and encourage more young children to become sexually active,†she said.
I know that this will be hard to believe, but I was once a chaste, naive teenager who felt strongly that pre-marital sex was wrong. (Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking.) Like most impulsive youth, I didn’t abstain from sex because I feared contracting an STD that would lead to cervical cancer decades down the road. Instead, I said no to sex because I wasn’t ready, and because my parents taught me to stand up for what I believe in, regardless of what your boyfriend wants or your friends are doing.
It’s not that people shouldn’t take a critical look at the HPV vaccine. When you do, many will find that what is really objectionable about a vaccine being pushed as a life-saving tool is its price tag. At $120 per shot and with three shots required over six months, this is far more money than many parents can afford. If kids are covered by health insurance, that’s great. (According to the cheerful Nov. 1 Merck press release announcing that Gardasil was added to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the CDC's Vaccines for Children (VFC) contract for girls and women aged 9 to 18, “Health insurers covering approximately 94 percent of privately insured lives in the US (currently more than 95 insurance plans) have decided to reimburse GARDASIL.â€) Yet millions of uninsured Americans are children. Don’t they have as much of a right to protect themselves as more fortunate kids?
And let’s not forget the ubiquitous ad campaign around the vaccine. MickeyEli at Progressive U wrote:
Since I am studying to be a nurse, information about health care and health care practices interest me so I perk up a little and listen. The ad states that cervical cancer is caused by a common virus called human papillomavirus, probably more commonly known as HPV. For some people who have never heard of HPV I'm sure this would cause some alarm by this ad telling them they could have cervical cancer. There is no information given about how you can get HPV or even specifically what it is. At the end of the ad it gives a website you can visit: www.tell-someone.com
I visited this website to get more information, knowing already that HPV is actually a sexually transmitted disease although the ad does not even tell that information, needlessly frightening people who now think they have cervical cancer because they once had a virus. Even on the website, it states that HPV is a really common virus, many times leading to cervical cancer. You have to click on about 3 links to get the truthful information that HPV is an STD leading to cervical cancer in women and may or may not be prevented by using a condom. I wish that TV ads were more truthful in what they presented especially since this ad was trying to raise awareness in women about cervical cancer but only giving them half of the necessary information.
Let the fear mongering begin.
Suzanne also blogs at
