Parents who won't protect their children, under the disguise of "morality"

The human papilloma virus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer. 3,700 women die of cervical cancer every year. Fortunately, a vaccine has been made to prevent women from contracting HPV. The best time to receive the vaccination is before sexual activity starts.

The state of Michigan has issued legislation that would require all girls attending public school to receive the vaccination before entering the 6th grade. There are provisions for parents to opt out for medical, moral, or philosophical reasons. [Story Here]

Of course, some parents are outraged. They say that this sends the message to kids that underage sex is okay. What these parents don't understand is that whether underage sex is "okay" or not, their own children have a 62% chance of becoming sexually active anyway.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, [View PDF File]:

• 6% of girls and 8% of boys start having sex before the age of 14
• 62% of teens have had sexual intercourse by the 12th grade

Yes, your little angels have sex regardless of whatever morals you try to instill in them.

For parents of girls, this especially applies to you:

• 18% of sexually active boys in grades 9-12 have had more than four sexual partners
• 25% of sexually active girls' first partners were four (or more) years older than them; girls with older partners are less likely to use contraceptives
• 33% of sexually active kids ages 15-17 report "being in a relationship where things are moving too fast sexually",
  
• 24% of sexually active kids ages 15-17 participated in sexual acts that they really did not want to do
• 12% of girls in grades 9-12 report being physically forced to have intercourse

The prospect that a young teenage girl is forced into sex by an older boy who has had four or more sexual partners is a bit scary. Keep reading:

• 4 million teens contract sexually transmitted diseases each year
• 1 in 4 sexually active teens will contract a sexually transmitted disease

So if one in four sexually active teens has an STD, and 18% of sexually active boys have had four or more partners, then it is reasonable to assume that nearly all of those boys have an STD.

These are the boys that your daughter is most likely to have her first sexual experience with -- whether underage or not. Even if she remains abstinent during her teenage years (which she is statistically unlikely to do), she will be dating these guys in college and thereafter.

So to the parents who are outraged over the suggested requirement for this vaccination: Take off your blinders and stop chanting the "it won't happen to my child" mantra. How terrible would you feel if your precious daughter undergoes years of chemotherapy only to die from cervical cancer because you were too morally rigid to have her vaccinated? At some point, you need to realize that your child is human and will make bitterly regrettable mistakes. When a preventable consequence is cancer, it is inhuman not to take action.