Ideology won't prevent cancer

A VACCINE proved to dramatically reduce cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer among women, would be expected to sail through federal approval processes. Yet getting such a vaccine to the people who would benefit the most from it is no sure thing, thanks to those promoting an ideology that any sex outside (heterosexual) marriage is wrong. A far-right political agenda should not be allowed, again, to threaten women's health.

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will determine whether Gardasil -- which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a guard against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus, or HPV, for girls and women ages 9 to 26 -- should be widely used. The panel's decision would establish whether private insurers and the government would cover the cost of such vaccinations. By recommending that Gardasil be universally administered to girls ages 11-12, the committee can facilitate widespread vaccination and enable all girls and women to protect themselves from a sexually transmitted infection that the CDC says 80% of American women will have by age 50.

Opponents of the vaccine argue that abstinence is a "foolproof" alternative that negates the need for mandatory vaccination. These groups believe that vaccination will act to lower young women's sexual inhibitions and promote risky sexual behavior, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

Lunatic fringe, you say? Not anymore. Such beliefs are held by some Bush administration appointees. One of them -- Reginald Finger, a medical doctor and a member of the CDC committee -- is a believer in "just say no" as the preferred protection against HPV. Until last fall, Finger was a medical issues analyst for Focus on the Family, an ultraconservative group that advocates "abstinence until marriage and faithfulness after marriage as the best and primary practice in preventing HPV" and other sexually transmitted infections.

The group's position is not based on science. Focus on the Family believes that abstinence "is better protection than any vaccine because it's God's plan for people before they are married."

Forty-eight states already allow religious exemptions for individuals wishing to forgo any kind of vaccination. Many states also allow a philosophical exemption for vaccinations. By saying they oppose only \o7mandatory \f7vaccinations, extremist social conservatives stealthily undermine the HPV vaccine -- backing away from their earlier, more public general opposition -- and continue to promote their religious beliefs at the expense of women's health.