Students in Catholic schools have sex. Probably at the same rate as other schools. They are and will continue to have sex no matter how much Catholic officials preach. I’m sure this is not coming as any shock to any of you.
It’s interesting that this topic is coming up at a time when I just blogged about the fact that I valued my Catholic education.
A few weeks ago, the Ontario government announced that it will offer all Grade 8 girls a HPV vaccine. The issue here is that some catholic school boards have questioned whether the program promotes sexual activity among teens.
According to HPVontario.ca, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) “is a very common virus transmitted through sexual activity. HPV has been found to cause cervical cancer, some other rare cancers and genital warts.”
I think this non-issue quite hilarious. I don’t see how the HPV vaccine encourages teens to be sexually active, and I found this quote that pretty much sums up the debate:
An anti-STD vaccine no more encourages promiscuity than locking your doors at night encourages burglars. Sure, it would be a fine thing if we lived in the best of all possible worlds, where locked doors and vaccines were unneccessary because burglars and diseases don’t exist. But we don’t live in that kind of world.
While most Catholic school boards have ultimately approved these vaccinations to take place, I don’t understand why there is even a debate. It ultimately comes down to health. Regardless of what school you go to, teens should have access to information and attention they need to make informed choices.
You can’t stop teens from having sex, and being in denial doesn’t help teens prevent contracting STD’s. What we can do as a society is at least ensure that they know everything they need to know and be protected.
Catholic schools debating moral issue of HPV shot - [thestar.com]
I think you're reporting old news. The catholic school board voted FOR the vaccine last week. ( I think).
but on a bigger issue, I do have a problem with this vaccine -- how much of money is the vaccine maker getting? is no one alarmed that the decision came without disclosing the process behind selecting the manufacturer of the vaccine?
I'm not against life-saving vaccine...but how much money are we investing in particular vaccine? and How much impact will it have? relative to other life-saving measures that may not require a province wide vaccination?
Who's funding the liberal campaign?
I'm having some major qualms about the pharmaceutical industry. It's especially hard when they market services and products that aim towards improving the human health. The true cost of medicine is often inflated without public scrutiny -- after all, human health and the sanctity of life is priceless. I think drugmakers are exploiting this very sentiment to exponentially increase the cost of these medicine.
Now this is my speculation. But really -- how much does it cost to make an antibiotic pill? the last time I needed antibiotics it costed me almost 100 bucks for 20?
oh my gosh, sorry you totally acknowledged that the vote has gone through. my bad.
:(
"An anti-STD vaccine no more encourages promiscuity than locking your doors at night encourages burglars."
Hmmm. Not sure that that's the best analogy. I don't think the goal of premarital sex is to contract an STD. If it were, the analogy would be good.
A better analogy is "encouraging use of seatbelts will increase the number of accidents on the road". Hopefully that's not true (?)
Couldn't they just lie to the girls about what the shot does if they're *that* worried? Tell them it's for bird flu or something ;)