Reply #27: It's a lousy situation, I fully agree.

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But, since no one else has mentioned it, I would like to comment on the ovewhelmingly reasonable response from the masses, concerning the vaccine.

Remember at the very beginning when the news first broke? Mainstream newspapers everywhere pandered to the religious right by saying that vaccinating girls would be morally questionable because it might encourage promiscuity. Even The Oregonian, which was my local paper at the time, said so. You had better believe I wrote a LTTE! I informed them of my disgust at their attempt to attach "morals" to the issue, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one! Women have reacted to this issue overwhelmingly as a health concern. The "moral" aspect is not nearly as salient to women, nor to parents, as right-wingers had predicted.

The voices of common sense and good judgment coming from average American women, and parents, is very heartening to me. It gives me hope that the people of the USA are not as backwards and screwed-up as the fundie lobbyists would have us believe.