Halton Catholic School Board Approves Controversial HPV Vaccinations on School Premises

By John-Henry Westen

HAMILTON, September 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a move which came as an unexpected shock to many in the pro-life movement, the board of trustees at the Halton Catholic District School Board voted 4-3 to reject a motion to forbid the controversial HPV vaccine to be offered or administered on the Catholic school board's premises for the duration of this school year. The board has instead permitted the vaccine to be administered to girls as young as twelve on its premises.

As LifeSiteNews.com reported last week, trustee Anthony Danko formulated a resolution opposing the HPV vaccines based on concerns expressed by the bishops of Ontario. The bishops said that they regretted the introduction of the vaccine without appropriate testing. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/sep/07091407.html). Danko had expected his motion to pass.

The most interesting aspect of the debate and vote was that the 12 trustees include three student trustees who are not permitted a vote. All three student trustees are female, and all three supported Danko's resolution to ban the vaccines from Halton Catholic schools. Had the three students been permitted a vote, Danko's resolution would have passed.

The three female students saw that the administration of a vaccine on Catholic premises to combat sexually transmitted diseases presented a mixed message to students.

"I'm taught every day to save myself for marriage and practise abstinence," said 16-year-old Erin Gamble. "Giving the vaccine to Grade 8 girls contradicts what I have been taught."

"I go to a Catholic school every day for a reason," Gamble added. "I have a big problem with this."

The letter from the Ontario Bishops on the vaccine spoke similarly. "Sexual activity is appropriate only within marriage," said the letter. "Outside of marriage, abstinence is not only clearly the choice that leads to spiritual and moral wellbeing, but it is obviously the best protection against risks of disease."

The Bishops also warned of health risks since the long-term effects of the vaccination have not been tested. "There is no consensus among those involved in public health in Canada that HPV vaccination is the most prudent strategy in terms of allocating health care resources to address the goal of preventing deaths resulting from cervical cancer," says the letter. "The Bishops of Ontario regret its introduction without further opportunity for thorough study of all of the effects of this program. The best interests of children demands that parents and guardians be fully informed before granting consent."

In its decision the board voted to send the letter from the Bishops to parents to assist them to discern what decision they should make. The board also decided that a signed form from parents would be required before the vaccine could be administered to their children on school property.

Nonetheless, the active participation of the Catholic board in the controversial vaccine has left many perplexed by the normally strongly pro-life, pro-family board's decision. Danko says he has had many supportive calls from parents. "I'm not sure if we've been true to our Catholic identity here," said Danko in comments to LifeSiteNews.com. "I think we've compromised something."

At the meeting one of the trustees, Catholic priest Fr. David Wilhelm, argued against Danko's motion with an interpretation of the Bishops' letter which ran contrary to Danko's. "What the bishops are telling us is that parents have the right and the responsibility to make these decisions for their children and I don't think any of us have the right to take that away, as difficult as that may be," he said.

In reality however, Danko's motion sought not to deny parents permission to vaccinate their children with the HPV vaccine but merely to refuse to allow the Catholic school to be party to the controversial vaccine's administration.

"The bishops were clearly unhappy with the situation," said Danko, "and wanted us to do something about it." However, the letter from the bishops, despite expressing serious concerns, did not specifically direct or encourage Catholic school boards to decline participation in the vaccination program.

Fr. Wilhelm stated, "If this was so morally reprehensible, the bishops would have come out and said that clearly". He added, "Making this decision is well beyond what trustees are there for." The lack of clear direction in the bishops' letter thus left the door wide open to interpretations such as Fr. Wilhelm's, which defeated the Danko motion.

Voting in favour of Danko's motion were Danko himself, Bob Van de Vrande, and Ed Viana. Voting against were Rev. David Wilhelm, Rosanna Palmieri, Pauline Houlahan, and Joanne Matters, who had previously expressed serious concerns about the vaccine and was expected to vote for the motion.

See previous LifeSiteNews reports on this issue:

It is very unfortunate but the fact is that a woman who is chaste and monagomous in her marriage can still get a venereal disease. I happened to my sick, elderly mother.

My 66 year old mother had blood tranfusions during her lung cancer surgery. She ended up with herpes.

And that isn’t even taking into account the potential problem of a wandering, cheating husband. No one can predict the future.

Women need to look out for themselves. Just because you get a vaccine to protect you from a disease ususally spread by sexual contact, it doesn’t mean you are going to be promiscuous. What it means is a woman must be in control of her own life and not trust her safety to others.

Parents who love their daughters should have them vaccinated for this awful disease.

I think parents should weigh the risks vs the benefits of this vaccine.

Right now, the vaccine is showing neurological side effects, and my daughter has brain damage.

It may be worth it just for her to stay on top of pap smears than to get the vaccine, especially since she is not in a high risk group for getting cervical cancer.

Also, the timing of the vaccine should be up to the parent.

I don’t think that getting the vaccine says anything about sexual promiscuity. I knew of a woman who had been very chaste throughout her life, but unfortunately her first husband wasn’t. She got a STD thanks to her scummy husband.

I'm with you on this - the timing should be up to the family

But, if a parent feels an intense need to give this to their 12/13 year old girl because they are concerned that the child may become sexually active in the near future - well that family has more problems that this vaccine can address. There simply is no appropriate modern day scenario where young teenage girls should be having sex

On the other hand, a woman in her early 20's who has kept herself chaste is probably showing an appropriate use of the vaccine.

Certainly I agree that teenagers should not be mating like minks - a scenario that unfortunately is shown to them every day on television shows like “The Best Years.” The good news is that a fair number of teenagers not only reject the “free love” philosophy of my era, but they extend the concept of chaste behavior to young men, too. (I teach high school, so I’m exposed to the best and the worst of the next generation. It’s interesting that the guy we would have called “the stud” is now derided as the “manslut.”)

Having said all that, getting a vaccine against a common STD is not the same as telling girls to go out and act like amateur prostitutes. In fact, getting the shot might convey the opposite message - there are diseases out there which can kill you, and even though we have a shot for one of those diseases, there are plenty more out there for which there is no cure. Once you tell girls that their partner can give them a disease that has practically no symptoms and causes cancer, maybe they’ll be looking at all their partners more cautiously.

I would also hate to be the parent of a woman who gets uterine cancer because they decided the shot would prompt promiscuous behavior.

To paraphrase a famous Tom Lehrer joke about the nuclear proliferation: “These are times that make you feel like a Christian Scientist with apendicitis.”

Moral virtue needs to be taught to kids consistently, with a sound religious basis. I would think this vaccine could be incorporated into that worldview.

My ob/gyn was telling was reminding me about the possiblities of rape.

I figure the chances of my daughters getting raped are less than the chances of a serious side-effect from this vaccine.

I would not vaccinate based on that risk.

To tell you the truth, if they did get raped cervical cancer would probably be about one of the least of my worries.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.