You know what I hate? Cancer. From everything I've heard, it really sucks. I'm 100 percent against it. That's why I thought it was so swell when Governor Rounds announced that the state of South Dakota would be providing vaccinations against HPV (human papilloma virus) free of charge to girls between the age of 11 and 18.
The strains of HPV that the vaccine targets cause 70 percent of cervical cancers (bonus: it also takes care of 90 percent of genital warts). About half of all sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives and nearly 4,000 women die from cervical cancer every year, so this would seem to be really good news. Isn't "a cure for cancer" the stereotypical totally awesome discovery? This is a huge step in that direction. And it's free! Who wouldn't support the HPV vaccine? Who doesn't hate cancer?
I'll tell you who: Leslee Unruh. Leslee Unruh loves cancer. Unruh, founder of the Abstinence Clearinghouse objects to vaccinating children against a disease that she claims is, "100 percent preventable with proper sexual behavior. Premarital sex is dangerous, even deadly. Let's not encourage it by vaccinating 10-year-olds so they think they're safe.'' Now, I know whenever I get my tetanus booster, I run around barefoot in fields of rusty nails because I assume I'm safe, but I have a feeling I'm in the minority there. And while it might mean that every 10-year-old who has been abstaining from sex up to the point purely because they're afraid of cervical cancer will become sexually active, saving thousands of women from the agony of a possibly deadly diagnosis is worth the risk.
There are some logical flaws with her argument as well, of course. If you save yourself for marriage but have a partner who doesn't, you could still end up with HPV. But even ignoring that, is she really suggesting that, in the name of (theoretically) preventing teen sex, we should allow girls to be punished for a single sexual experience with CANCER? It's friggin' cancer! If we had a vaccine for lung cancer, would you want to withhold it from kids because it might encourage teen smoking? Of course not, because you hate cancer as much as I do.
I don't know why Leslee Unruh is so cool with cancer. Maybe she doesn't know how much it sucks. Maybe an unreliable source told her it's actually really grand. But since I hate cancer, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Leslee on this one. Let's get these kids vaccinated. If you're still 18, head over to the community health nurse and get yourself vaccinated while it's still free. If you're over 18, see if your insurance will cover the vaccination or if a kind family member will spot you $400 (I know it sounds steep, but remind them it could save you from CANCER). There's no point in walking for the cure and wearing shirts for the cure and eating yogurt for the cure if you don't actually take advantage of the cure when we finally get it.
If he ever reads the letters I send him, Governor Rounds probably thinks I can be a little critical, but I give him nothing but props on this one. He saw through the rhetoric and realized no matter what your political stripe, we can all (well, uh, almost all) get behind hatin' on cancer. Get more info at www.state.sd.us/doh/HPV.
Reach columnist Kelsey Collier-Wise at Collier.Wise@gmail.com.
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