Social conservatives and their daughters

Originally, I thought I'd title this post, "Social conservatives, let's just kill them all. Nooooowwwww.

Because this is

Just

Fucking

Unbelievable.

WASHINGTON - A new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer has set up a clash between health advocates who want to use the shots aggressively to prevent thousands of malignancies and social conservatives who say immunizing teenagers could encourage sexual activity.

Although the vaccine will not become available until at least next year, activists have begun maneuvering to influence how the immunizations will be used.

Groups working to reduce the toll of the cancer want the vaccine to become part of the standard roster of shots that children, especially girls, receive just before puberty.

Because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted virus, many conservatives oppose making it mandatory, citing fears that it could send a subtle message condoning sexual activity before marriage.

[...]

The vaccine protects women against strains of a ubiquitous germ called the human papilloma virus. Although many strains of the virus are innocuous, some can cause cancerous lesions on the cervix, making them the primary cause of this cancer in the United States. Cervical cancer strikes more than 10,000 U.S. women each year, killing more than 3,700.

The vaccine appears to be virtually 100 percent effective against two of the most common cancer-causing HPV strains. Merck, whose vaccine is further along, plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the year for approval to sell the shots.

The Vega has no offspring. But if I did, I'd say to these gibbering fools that if they want to learn about Darwin the hard way, that's up to them, but leave my daughters out of it.

But can you imagine a father denying his daughters access to a vaccine that protects against cervical cancer because it might send a "subtle message?" Such individuals are the very definition of evil.

And they're currently running the goddamn asylum otherwise known as the Bush administration.

As is so often the case, the Medium Lobster observes this subject from his lofty perch.