Necessary Roughness

The New York Times has an article about a vaccine that is quite successful against HPV, a family of viruses of which two have been demonstrated to cause cervical cancer. HPV is sexually transmitted.

Dr. Wheeler and most other public health specialists argue that vaccinating young girls and eventually, boys, before they become sexually active is the best overall prevention strategy and the most effective way to continue to research the vaccines’ efficacy (although no effectiveness studies have yet been done in males). But some conservative Christians oppose mandatory vaccination, and have argued that the vaccine would promote promiscuity and detract from their, and the Bush administration’s, abstinence messages in the United States and abroad.

I don’t oppose mandatory vaccination on religious grounds. I oppose the “mandatory” part of that on personal liberty grounds. Some vaccines are known to have side effects that in some cases can be worse than the original virus. Risks must be weighed. Schools will often not allow kids into school that aren’t vaccinated. That’s fine, because admission to a school is voluntary (even if the funding isn’t).

From the religious/moral angle, we aren’t to avoid sinful behavior because there are consequences; we avoid it because we have a divine law not to do it. Even if various barriers were 100% effective against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, this doesn’t give us license to perform sexual acts outside marriage. I would agree with the conjecture that making vaccinations available would reduce the incentive for moral behavior, but basing one’s “because” on current medical technology may render one’s argument irrelevant when the technology is advanced.

God’s Law is always relevant. Often it makes sense given the way this sinful world works. After one consequence of breaking the Law is blunted, though, there are always other consequences. Even if a woman never conceives a baby or if anyone never receives a virus because they were diligent in their “protection”, there’s no earthly vaccine for unfaithfulness, either premaritally or extramaritally. There may be still yet other consequences we have yet to discover.

The present cost of screening-prevention methods like Pap smears and colposcopy approaches $6 billion a year in the United States. Those costs will continue in addition to the vaccine expense. Who will pay for cervical cancer prevention for the neediest women and girls?

Given that this is the New York Times it’s not hard to imagine the article’s author to answer that question with a state “solution”. I would not appreciate a demand for my funds because someone wants to engage in risky behavior.

Update, June 9^th, 6:16am: Aardvark Alley handed out a Golden Aardvark (Aardie) for this post. Thanks!