Thursday, March 16, 2006
It's Not A Tumor!
Well, it looks like the Bush Administration officially opposes HPV vaccines. Why? Because if we prevent a form of cancer that's sexually transmitted and not blocked by condoms, then damnit, we give the go-ahead to twelve-year-olds hitting each other up doggy style in the bathroom between classes.
I may find some of the oppositions to scientific advancement and sexual safety embraced by conservatives and the Bush Administration repulsive, but at least they make some sense. You could argue that embryonic stem cell research does mean that babies will never be born, or that clean needle exchanges encourage drug use.
This is not one of those cases, however. This is cancer. This is a disease that kills hundreds of people, and renders thousands of others unable to bear children. We have a vaccine that will save us a lot of suffering, and it can't be used, because apparently, it will make some people think that sex carries no risks.
Well, guess what, Bush? If your "abstinence-only" education programs did their fucking job, then people would know that sex carries risks. Hell, I'm fully in support of comprehensive sex ed and doing whatever you want as long as you're protected and consenting, and even I know that sex isn't 100% safe. Condoms are going to break, spermicides will be used past their sell-by date, birth control pills will be replaced with Tic-Tacs by mischevious little brothers, whatever. I support comprehensive sex ed programs, however, because they tell people what they can do to minimize some of those risks. It's never going to be 100% safe, in the same way that even if you avoid sleazy bars, lock all your doors and windows at night, and don't stop to help seemingly charming young men stranded on the side of the road, there's still a chance a serial killer will get you. But at least we can minimize the risks.
What Bush and his sex-crazed cronies want, though, is to increase the risks. They keep talking about how it's all about keeping kids safe, but when something comes along that actually prevents a disease, they turn it down. Why? Because they need one more boogeyman to hold up their false beliefs.
Remember. This is just HPV. Imagine what's going to happen if someone develops an AIDS vaccine while Bush is still in office.
I may find some of the oppositions to scientific advancement and sexual safety embraced by conservatives and the Bush Administration repulsive, but at least they make some sense. You could argue that embryonic stem cell research does mean that babies will never be born, or that clean needle exchanges encourage drug use.
This is not one of those cases, however. This is cancer. This is a disease that kills hundreds of people, and renders thousands of others unable to bear children. We have a vaccine that will save us a lot of suffering, and it can't be used, because apparently, it will make some people think that sex carries no risks.
Well, guess what, Bush? If your "abstinence-only" education programs did their fucking job, then people would know that sex carries risks. Hell, I'm fully in support of comprehensive sex ed and doing whatever you want as long as you're protected and consenting, and even I know that sex isn't 100% safe. Condoms are going to break, spermicides will be used past their sell-by date, birth control pills will be replaced with Tic-Tacs by mischevious little brothers, whatever. I support comprehensive sex ed programs, however, because they tell people what they can do to minimize some of those risks. It's never going to be 100% safe, in the same way that even if you avoid sleazy bars, lock all your doors and windows at night, and don't stop to help seemingly charming young men stranded on the side of the road, there's still a chance a serial killer will get you. But at least we can minimize the risks.
What Bush and his sex-crazed cronies want, though, is to increase the risks. They keep talking about how it's all about keeping kids safe, but when something comes along that actually prevents a disease, they turn it down. Why? Because they need one more boogeyman to hold up their false beliefs.
Remember. This is just HPV. Imagine what's going to happen if someone develops an AIDS vaccine while Bush is still in office.
