Reply #33: This is small potatoes - read this:

[central scrutinizer]

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg18624954.500

Will cancer vaccine get to all women?

* 18 April 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Debora MacKenzie

DEATHS from cervical cancer could jump fourfold to a million a year by 2050, mainly in developing countries. This could be prevented by soon-to-be-approved vaccines against the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer - but there are signs that opposition to the vaccines might lead to many preventable deaths.

The trouble is that the human papilloma virus (HPV) is sexually transmitted. So to prevent infection, girls will have to be vaccinated before they become sexually active, which could be a problem in many countries.

In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.

end excerpt. Would one of the fundies please quote chapter and verse where Jesus says that medical care should be denied because it might, just might, cause somebody to sin? Culture of life, my ass. How fucking twisted it is that they will sentence thousands of women to die of cancer to fit their bizarre world view where ignorance, dogmatic rigidity, and intolerance are virtues.