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Beyond Parody

Wednesday, May 4th, 2005

A vaccine against HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, is on the horizon. But the moral right is already gearing up to oppose its distribution. Why? Apparently because HPV is sexually transmitted, and vaccinating women against might — are you ready for this? — encourage women to have premarital sex.

From the New Scientist:

“Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV,” says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

“Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex,” Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.

So to prevent theoretical additional occurences of premarital sex, Maher’s okay with unnecessarily subjecting young women to fucking cancer? Holy moral rectitude, Bridget. You have to wonder, would the Family Research Council oppose distribution of an AIDS vaccine, too — because it might spark an increase in gay sex?

I suppose it could be worse:

“We found that some Asian women in Britain are afraid even to get tested for HPV infection, because they say if it is positive they will be killed, never mind that their husbands probably gave it to them,” says Szarewski. She feels that such attitudes may mean that HPV vaccination may be a non-starter in such communities.

Jesus.

I ask you, which is worse?

  • The American left won’t let agri-firms develop biotech products that could save millions of lives in the developing world because it upsets their delicate notions of what’s “natural” (never mind how many of the world’s poor have succumbed to malaria because of the green left’s objections to DDT).

    or,

  • The American right is ready to oppose distribution of a cancer vaccine to the developing (and developed, for that matter) world because it might lead to marginal increases in premarital sex (never mind how many of the world’s poor have succumbed to AIDS because of the relious right’s objections to condom distribution).

    The answer is that they’re two sides of the same coin.

    I’d wager that self-righteousness has killed more people the world over than war, famine, and natural disaster combined.

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    This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 4th, 2005 at 5:12 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

    • 5 Responses to “Beyond Parody”

    1. #1 |  TheTalkArena.com |  May 4th, 2005 at 10:10 pm

      Mindnumbing Ignorance

      Unreal.

      From The Agitator.

      What if I told you scientists were close to developing a vaccine that would prevent HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer? Well, if you’re a member of the Family Research Council, a Christian lobby group, you’d be…

    2. #2 |  Uncommon Sense |  May 5th, 2005 at 4:47 pm

      Religious Darwinism

      Radley Balko does an outstanding job ridiculing the religious position regarding a cancer vaccine, as reported in this New Scientist article. I guess even the religious can’t escape Darwin. Seems they’d rather hope for natural selection to weed out pre…

    3. #3 |  Liberteaser |  May 5th, 2005 at 6:01 pm

      The Economics of Sex and HPV

      TheAgitator.com: Beyond Parody Radley Balko’s on the case of the right-wingers who are opposed to an HPV vaccine on the grounds that such a vaccine might encourage women to have premarital sex.

    4. #4 |  One Fine Jay |  May 6th, 2005 at 11:57 am

      A curse on both houses

      Radley Balko:

      I ask you, which is worse?

      The American left won’t let agri-firms develop biotech products that could save millions of lives in the developing world because it upsets their delicate notions of what’s “natural” (never mind how ma…

    5. #5 |  Dispatches from the Culture Wars |  May 7th, 2005 at 11:42 am

      Balko on Religious Right Opposition to HPV Vaccine

      Radley Balko saw the Family Research Council’s insane statement about the new HPV vaccine too. And he riffed on it pretty hard: So to prevent theoretical additional occurences of premarital sex, Maher’s okay with unnecessarily subjecting young women to…