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In an article in The Nation titled "Virginity or Death!" (I'm not kidding), written when the vaccine first came out, Katha Pollitt accused Christian conservatives of wanting high HPV infection rates to undermine the case for condoms and to "try to scare kids away from sex."

"With HPV potentially eliminated, the antisex brigade will lose a card it has regarded as a trump unless it can persuade parents that vaccinating their daughters will turn them into tramps, and that sex today is worse than cancer tomorrow," she wrote. "What is it with these right-wing Christians? Faced with a choice between sex and death, they choose death every time. … As they flex their political muscle, right-wing Christians increasingly reveal their condescending view of women as moral children who need to be kept in line sexually by fear."

Pollitt's rage was triggered by a quotation from Bridget Maher, who was then working for FRC (she's now at the Department of Health and Human Services). Maher had told the New Scientist, "Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex."

As Maher would later tell me, "FRC was never against the vaccine and never said they would oppose FDA approval." This is consistent with the statement on FRC's website about the vaccine. "We merely expressed some concerns about it."

Feminists could be expected to have similar concerns over lawmakers taking money from drug companies to force a brand-new vaccine on young girls. But many are apparently too busy being angry at the people who had expressed any concerns: Christians.

At this point, it's tempting just to retreat with a pout and a grumpy "They hate us no matter WHAT we say, so why bother?" We'd certainly have a point. But we can't just leave it there. Instead, we need to learn something from the bitter ironies on display here: namely, that our society will gravitate toward any message that endorses sexuality unencumbered by biblical morality. If "telling someone," as the ad campaign urges, means that they'll be advocating safe sex, all well and good. But if the cause of free sex is better served by keeping silent, the message becomes, "Tell no one." Not even if it might put her health at risk. The urge for absolute sexual autonomy and freedom from any kind of control is that powerful—and that deadly.

That's precisely why we cannot retreat when the physical and spiritual health of those around us is at stake. Our goal should always be to "tell someone" where destructive behavior can lead—whether telling someone happens to be fashionable at the moment or not.

Gina R. Dalfonzo is the editor of The Point.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also see the April Christianity Today editorial on HPV vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control has more information about HPV and Gardasil.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a list of all states' legislation on the HPV vaccination.

The University of Pennsylvania's center for bioethics blog summarizes and links to recent ethics news about vaccines like Gardasil.

Related articles include:

How a Vaccine Search Ended in Triumph | the 70-year history behind the creation of a vaccine against human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, is more fraught than most with blind alleys, delicate moments, humor and triumph. (The New York Times)

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March (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51