The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

The scene is stunning and picturesque…beautiful young women dance across a lit football field, donning dazzling purple costumes, waving flags high in the air, and wearing matching smiles that light up their faces as the sequence on their leotards.
 
They chant in unison.
 
“O-N-E-L-E-S-S! I wanna be…. ONE LESS!”
 
Sound familiar? It should. It’s a scene taken from Merck’s latest controversial advertisement for their new vaccination, Gardasil… the supposed HPV “cure all “. Attractive, courageous women cheer and proclaim that Gardasil is life changing, that mothers should ask their doctors to administer the drug to their young daughters right away, and they smile, assuredly, because they are “one less”.
 
At first glance one might think, “Wow…a cure for cancer. Who doesn’t want that?”
 
However, most people know that if something ever sounds too good to be true, it usually is not legit.

 
HPV is a Sexually Transmitted Disease that can lead to cervical cancer. That is a fact. But how does someone obtain any kind of STD in the first place? In a monogamous relationship, where sex is saved for marriage?
 
Probably not.

STD’s are usually obtained by those who live sexually promiscuous lives. Unlike breast or prostate cancer, one does not merely wake up with cervical cancer without any doing of their own. Lets just pretend that Gardasil really delivers all that Merck promises it does. Even with that guarantee, (which we are far from having), what about the other STD’s not “solved” by Gardasil? How about the risk of HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, and even pregnancy? How far do we have to go to realize that it is probably not healthy to be taking 20 pills, 3 times a day, just to decrease your STD symptoms?
 
Providing and encouraging girls, as young as age 9, to receive the HPV vaccination gives these girls a sense of false security, which most likely will end up opening a Pandora’s box to a plethora of other problems.
 
Seems a little ridiculous? We’ve barely scratched the surface.
 
What exactly is this vaccination that doctors from across the country are injecting their young patients with? There are numerous reports from across the country of the adverse reactions had by these young patients. One look at the web page of the National Vaccine Information Center, (www.nvic.org), will have anybody thinking twice about the vaccines reliability.
 
But besides all the negative physiological adverse affects, what kind of message are we sending to our kids? Are we promoting them to live sexually promiscuous lives without fear of consequence? Are we sending the message at a young age that the “normal” thing to do is have frivolous sexual relationships with multiple partners? Are we showing the youth that we have lost faith in them, that we are sure they will live irresponsible lives, and that they must have the vaccination in order to be healthy?
 
And how does the Merck enterprise expect us to trust their products after all the scandalous reports they have been targeted with? Will Gardasil become the next Vioxx scam?
 
The bottom line is that healthy, young, developing girls are being given a vaccination, not yet tested, tried, and true. Gardasil does not only put their bodies in harms way, but also their confidence for living a courageous, clean, and fulfilling life.
 
Educate others about what HPV is all about. Most who support Gardasil only do so because they don’t have the facts. Focus on the truth that abstinence before marriage is really the only way to live a happy and rewarding life.