And What if We Discover an AIDS vaccine?


Abstract:
This is, of course, a knot of medical, legal, and ethical issues - parents' rights, the common good, greed, and so on. But people who think cervical cancer is a deterrent to adolescent sexual activity are simply nuts.

Body:
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the social ramifications of the HPV vaccine. This is, of course, a knot of medical, legal, and ethical issues - parents' rights, the common good, greed, and so on. But people who think cervical cancer is a deterrent to adolescent sexual activity are simply nuts.

When I was an assistant youth director (which is about as low on the totem pole on a church staff as you can get) I once excitedly mentioned a news article about a breakthrough in AIDS research. I said to the youth director, who was the parent of two teenagers, "can you imagine if they discovered a vaccine for HIV?"
"Oh Lord, I hope not," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Then nothing will stop them from having sex."
Them. What did she mean? Teenagers? Unmarried people? Human beings?

I stared at the wall. What could I say?

Posted: Mon - February 26, 2007 at 06:59 AM           |

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