Of Cats and Kids

Jakobsson's modest proposal

Posted by: Carol Lombardi

Friday, January 5, 2007 9:04 AM

The proposal : Public and private schools would require a doctor's signed statement, verifying that each girl entering sixth grade had received a vaccine against certain sexually transmitted diseases connected to cervical cancer, or that the child's parent or guardian had been informed about the connection between HPV and cervical cancer and still declined to have their child vaccinated.

Why I don't like the proposal: I'm not all that crazy about the mandatory vaccination thing, and I don't want to have to justify my choices to a doctor or a school. I'm not convinced that massive numbers of mandatory vaccinations are about the best interests of kids. I suspect they are much more about the best interests of the companies that make the vaccines.

I know people get rather heated about this, so I want to clarify that my opinions about mandatory vaccinations are PERSONAL and apply ONLY to my own personal child - the one I'M responsible for. Other people are free to vaccinate against everything from toenail fungus to split ends if they so desire.

Why I would definitely lean toward allowing my daughter to have this vaccination: Because sex happens. It may not be what we want for our kids, but it may be what they want for themselves, and at some point they make that choice. For my daughter, I hope it happens later rather than sooner and I hope she is armed with the information and self-esteem she needs to actually make a healthy and educated choice. I hope. I hope. But no matter what she does, cancer is too high a price to pay for her choices.

Even if my daughter turns out to be the most chaste child alive and commits herself to being a nun at the age of 9, rape also happens. And no amount of abstinence education can change that unhappy fact. If my most fervent prayers for my daughter to be spared that ordeal are denied, the least I can do is increase the chance that she will not have to deal with the threat of cancer as a result.

So let's sit back and watch Jakobsson get lambasted by right wing conservatives for this obvious attempt to force parents to endorse sex among sixth graders. (Eye roll.)

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