cervical cancer? What about giving the vaccination against HPV to girls as young as 9? The excellent webzine Mercator.net interviews a British physican and abstience proponent:

MercatorNet: Moral objections to the vaccine would not be so strong if it weren’t for the fact that it is recommended for girls as young as 9. This seems to confront conscientious parents with a dilemma: they can eliminate the possibility that their daughter might one day get cervical cancer and even die from it, but only at the risk of undermining all their efforts to teach chastity — "We are not totally confident that you can do this."  Is this a real dilemma, for doctors as well, in your view?

Dr Stammers: Oh yes, and the promoters are aware of this but some of them do have real difficulty in seeing it as an ethical issue. They say it is no different from the rubella vaccination – the intention is to prevent future harm, not to encourage current promiscuity. The optimal age for giving the vaccine is before puberty, they say, in order to promote the best immune response. However, since the research that shows it is 100 per cent effective was carried out with older women, I don’t see quite how this holds water.

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad