Human papilloma virus (hpv), once one of the less familiar words in the American vocabulary, is fast gaining exposure in part due to pharmaceutical drug-maker Merck and its hpv vaccination drug, Gardasil. If you haven’t heard of Gardasil, brace yourself. Merck, with the help of a group of political activists, wants to mandate vaccinating girls as young as 9 years old against the sexually transmitted disease hpv.

Currently, 19 states have introduced legislation to add Gardasil, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (fda) in June 2006, to the list of mandated school vaccines. Some say Gardasil is good for America’s daughters, that it’s about protecting our young from cervical cancer. Dissenting voices suggest that inoculating America’s young girls against an std encourages sexual behavior. What are the facts behind the movement to inoculate children against cervical cancer?

Perhaps you’ve seen the Gardasil commercials. They depict girls, some of whom look pre-teen, telling the television viewer that they want to be one less statistic in the fight against cervical cancer, with the inference that being inoculated with Gardasil is their answer.

According to the fda, the statement is mostly true. Though hpv has over 100 strains, Gardasil may protect girls and young women from four of them, two of which cause about 70 percent of reported cases of cervical cancer, and the other two of which cause 90 percent of all genital warts.

Of course, the vaccine cannot eliminate the risks associated with having sex with people who have had sex with other people. Don’t expect a Merck commercial to say this, but a sure-fire way to eliminate exposure to all strains of hpv is to abstain from risky sexual activity.

If Gardasil is mandated, it would mark the first time that a vaccine is required to protect people who engage in voluntary behavior. hpv is not communicable in the same way that measles or whooping cough are. Again, the cervical cancer that Gardasil helps to prevent is not a threat to groups, but to individuals engaged in risky sexual behavior. Thus, making this vaccine mandatory is based on the assumption that risky sex is a foregone conclusion. Essentially, it takes the idea of dispensing free condoms to young people to a new level.

Proponents of compulsory Gardasil vaccinations also operate under the assumption that it is completely safe. In truth, credible evidence shows that all vaccinations—which involve introducing antigens into a person’s immune system to stimulate an immune response—come with a measure of risk.

Many consider the idea of vaccinating all of America’s young girls against an std objectionable. Part of the concern is that the vaccine provides a false sense of full protection, in effect emboldening young people to engage in behavior that is still fraught with risk. Consider how a young, impressionable mind, still maturing and learning to make right decisions, could fall into the trap of thinking that a vaccination is a shield against genital warts, cervical cancer and perhaps other stds. Such thinking could certainly encourage reckless sexual behavior and expose our youth to other, more deadly stds like aids, and discourage the sure way to prevent hpv—right behavior and abstinence.

Let’s face the facts. Millions suffer from the effects of stds today; many even die. It is estimated by Rutgers University Health Services that during a typical college career, 60 percent of sexually active women will become infected with hpv. What is the cause? Is the health of these young people not worth addressing the source of the problem? Vaccines don’t even presume to do so, and could in fact aggravate the cause.

America’s epidemic of stds is the result of an epidemic of poor sexual education and poor parenting.

Unfortunately, today, rather than pushing for abstinence until marriage, society has lowered the standard for our children’s sex lives. We have resorted to “protecting” our youth with mere latex and innoculations. Instead, we should be protecting them with robust education about the purpose of sex and the right use and time for sex, and then maintaining an authoritative presence in their lives until they have the maturity to make right decisions.

This responsibility rests with parents. Don’t subcontract the sexual education of your children to the public schools or the government. If you are concerned about their sexual health and their future, educate yourself on how to educate them. You will find our free books The Missing Dimension in Sex and Why Marriage! Soon Obsolete? invaluable resources to draw upon in your studies. Also, read our article “Sexual Heath: What Every High School and College Student Needs to Know.”

Double your efforts to help your children avoid having sex before marriage. If young people would wait to have sex until married, there would be little need for Gardasil—and certainly no need for young girls to be inoculated for an std they should never even be exposed to. Teach your children the purpose for dating and encourage them to date widely in a way that will build their character rather than break it down. Take time to explain the purposes of sex to them. Help focus their attention on positive goals they can pursue. Youth and young adulthood is a time to prepare for a successful career and marriage, not for illicit sexual trysts with multiple partners.

All of this instruction must be done in a home environment where we encourage our children to tell us their problems and teach them how to live successful lives.

Our young children don’t need vaccinations to protect them from stds nearly so much as they need parents who are willing to protect, educate and train them. If we teach our children the hope, purpose and love associated with the right use of sex, then the odds of them abstaining until marriage are increased many times over. It is never too late to start teaching these vital lessons.