Thursday, September 25, 2008

Confusing The Issues

I do not believe the reasoning given by the Calgary RC School Board in refusing to make HPV vaccine available through their schools:

Calgary Catholic school board members voted Wednesday night not to make the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine available in schools.

Trustee Mary Martin said Calgary Bishop Fred Henry didn't want to appear to be condoning pre-marital sex.

"The bishop felt it was a moral issue."


When will idiots like Bishop Henry get it through their thick skulls that preventing disease has exactly NOTHING TO DO with premarital sex?

This meme about providing the vaccine "might give the impression that ..." is completely specious. It's like saying that sex education is giving license for people to engage in extra-marital sex. It's completely devoid of any anchor in reality.

Using the Bishop's logic, we shouldn't provide treatment for Syphilis - because the afflicted must be involved in immoral behaviour.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It makes the case for priests to marry, in my opinion. If the priest married and had daughters he would know first hand the problems of bringing up teens.
MAS

Niles said...

Snort. The church is making friends and influencing enemines with this. It's gotten plenty of local 'air'. At least part of it focuses on the catholic school parents who find themselves suddenly unequal citizens in Alberta because the school system is the most efficient, economic way to administer vaccines to youngsters.

Refusing medicine on 'moral' grounds. The spokesquisling tried to explain how taken in a secular light it didn't make any sense, but taken in the full faith of the Catholic doctrine they just couldn't support pre-marital sex you know? Absolutely no diversion into reality about 'post-marital' sexual protection, or abusive situations (because those never happen right? Just 'girls can't have it because then they'd be encouraged to run amok sexually...With No Threat of Punishment.

And then the news would cut to reaction by those stating 'uh let's see, you can prevent cancer in your child for their life and the church dictates the best 'window' for that isn't viable because your *daughter* might at some point in her unmarried life, have sexual congress.

So Catholic parents are presently left holding the bag for 300$ out of their own pockets to save their children future disaster and the government is left with a province wide health issue that will up their overhead costs a big jump trying to compensate.

Yep, that's going over like a lead balloon. Keep digging Church powers, keep digging.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should just protect the children by vacinating the priests and the Bishop??

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know if driver ed at Catholic School Board sites discourages the use of seat belts as the use of these safety devices only encourages young drivers to speed. Most safety professionals think you provide all the hardware for safety first, then insure that the training is adequate while people are safe.

An additional annoyance is that by refusing the use of the schools for the HPV vaccination the overall cost to the Province goes up. That leaves the general (non-Catholic) public holding the bag for the extra costs incurred by their "moral" decision. Maybe they should fork over the extra for their special demands on health care.

But then as the board chair says - their job is to do as the bishop says. That's why they are elected, to act like rubber stamps.

MgS said...

Woodwose:

Good question - one does have to wonder at what other "moral inferences" that the church might make on other subjects.

Anonymous said...

Your readers might want to send a bit of fan mail to Mike Annuik the holdout vote on the HPV issue. (michael@freespiritresources.com)

Anonymous said...

How about fan mail to extremist PC MLA's?

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