Imagine you have in your hands the capability of immunizing every American woman from HPV, a sexually-transmitted disease, several strains of which are the primary cause of cervical cancer. Science has shown that by eliminating these strains of HPV, a vaccine could significantly decrease instances of cervical cancer and other illnesses resulting from HPV. What would you do?
I hope you would find a way to get that vaccine to as many women as possible -- in the US and globally -- to help decrease, even eliminate, the possibility of contracting HPV and cervical cancer.
Unfortunately, this compassionate route may not be what the people actually charged with making such decisions settle upon. Later this year, the FDA is expected to approve an HPV vaccine. However, the committee that makes recommendations regarding immunizations may not recommend the HPV vaccine for widespread use. The Bush Administration is cool to any policy -- scientific or otherwise -- that could be construed to implicitly condone premarital sex. As Senator Tom Coburn puts it, "Premarital sex is dangerous, even deadly. Let's not encourage it by vaccinating ten-year-olds so they think they're safe." How's that for a pro-life stance?
Of course, cervical cancer is also "dangerous, even deadly." In the US, 5,000 women die each year of cervical cancer. The number who die of the disease globally is nearly a quarter-million. Senator Coburn would have us ignore a tool that could decrease these numbers for fear that protecting women in this way may encourage more promiscuous behavior. Even if decreasing/eliminating the risk of HPV and cervical cancer had been shown to increase promiscuity, and it has not, are the 5,000 lives that could be saved so expendable as to be sacrificed in the name of a moral principle -- sexual abstinence before marriage -- many Americans do not even ascribe to?
By promoting abstinence as the only legitimate way to prevent STDs or unwanted pregnancy, the Bush administration has transformed health decisions that ought to be based on science into political decisions based on morality. According to researchers in various branches of the government, government scientists are being kept on a very tight political leash that inhibits the free and open inquiries required to make valuable scientific advances. This merger of science and politics has allowed the Administration to pursue its social goals -- like abstinence programs -- by using selective science. Of course, this is all perfectly consistent with the Administration's complete aversion on many topics to dissenting voices and evidence.
What about a hypothetical HIV vaccine? Certainly, a vaccine against the most deadly STD would be distributed immediately and en masse. Don't be so sure. Reginald Finger, former medical advisor to the conservative group Focus on the Family, says, "With any vaccine for HIV, disinhibition (the removal of risk or fear) would certainly be a factor and it is something we will have to pay attention to with a great deal of care." Before dismissing Finger's opinions as that of an out-of-touch ideologue, know that he sits on the very committee charged with making immunization recommendations. His stance should not be surprising as the logic is consistent -- an HIV vaccine would decrease the risks of premarital sex and thus, could lead to greater promiscuity.
There can be no question that abstinence is the most effective method of preventing STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Teaching abstinence is useful and healthy. However, there can also be no question that the majority of Americans do not practice abstinence before marriage. In fact, many Americans see premarital sex as normal and sensible, not immoral. Denying those who choose to engage in premarital sex -- an activity that, by the way, is perfectly legal -- tools that can improve their health or save their life, whether it be the HPV vaccine or education on contraception, is not a policy at all. It is the imposition of one group's morals on the health of all Americans in deliberate disregard of reality.
I invite those making the HPV vaccine recommendations to open their eyes and look beyond the political goals their bosses hope to accomplish. If they cannot, I invite them to look in the eyes of the families of any American who contracts an illness the vaccine could have prevented and explain themselves. Maybe then they would see reality.
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