A Tale of Two Conservatives

I saw two posts from conservative sources — though conservative in different ways — that struck me as related but contradictory. Both have to do with people having sex when they probably shouldn’t and how (or whether) to mitigate the consequences.

One was entitled “Rick Perry’s Catholic Problem” (h/t Tipsy). The other was by Abdul about Father’s Day and contraception.

Rick Perry is the governor of Texas who may well run for the Republican Presidential nomination. Gardisil is a vaccine that helps prevent the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which causes genital warts and cervical cancer. Perry got into trouble because of his connections to the pharmaceutical companies, an executive law mandating that 11 and 12 year old girls get the vaccine, and a sense from some conservative quarters that the vaccine encourages promiscuity.

Per Tom Bevan:

[I]n Texas, Gov. Perry chose to bypass the legislature and on Feb. 2, 2007, he issued an executive order making Texas the first state in the country requiring all sixth-grade girls to receive the three-shot vaccination series (which cost about $120 per shot). The move generated a fierce public debate. Conservatives slammed Perry for promoting what they saw as an intrusion by the state into private health decisions of parents and their children. Some also complained that the mandate would encourage promiscuity among teenagers.

Per Joshua Mercer in the “Catholic Problem” article linked above:

So why would Culture of Life Catholics and evangelicals have a problem with this?

Unlike other public health threats like meningitis, which spreads easily between people in close quarters, the only way a teenager will get HPV is from sexual intercourse. If they abstain, they are in no real danger in getting this virus which causes cervical cancer.

Obviously Merck wants to make a lot of money by making all of our daughters get the $120 shots. And I understand that sexually transmitted diseases have become a pandemic, one that we don’t talk enough about.

But if we force every daughter to get Gardasil, we have lost hope in the ability of our children to say no to hazardous premarital sex.

(emphasis in the original.)

So, rather than lose some moral authority and risk clouding an unambiguous command not to have sex, the solution is to apparently forego a vaccine that would prevent your daughter from getting cervical cancer. (Leaving aside, for a moment, issues related to non-consensual sex.)

Contrast this with Abdul’s message on father’s day:

[W]hile a lot of the punditocracy spent Sunday pontificating on the importance of fathers, I honestly think we would have fewer societal issues if fewer people became fathers in the first place.

Allow me to elaborate. This past week a 16-year old was arrested for shooting and robbing a man on the Monon Trail. In less than four weeks a lot of good-hearted people are going to team up with law enforcement and patrol downtown Indianapolis during the second Saturday of Indiana Black Expo because some people are going to let their children run loose. For the past several weeks we’ve had hearings on the possible state takeover of failing schools because, in part, some people have decided not to be good parents and let their children’s’ education go straight to hell.

When I look at those few examples, it makes me wonder why instead of defunding Planned Parenthood, Indiana lawmakers didn’t increase funding and hand out gift cards. Let’s face it, some people are not just ready to be parents. And instead of chastising them, we really should turn our efforts into convincing them not to procreate. It’s not fair to the children and certainly not fair to us who will have to bear the costs, financial and otherwise, of their bad choices.

As a secular humanist type, my choice on these perspectives is pretty easy. I give my daughter the vaccine and protect her against cancer. (The concerns about Perry’s exercise of executive power, ties to the pharmaceutical company, and questions about efficacy are noted – but not the point of my post here.)

I agree with Abdul that there are a lot of people who don’t have the resources, commitment, or temperament for parenting; and the rest of us would be better off if they just went ahead and didn’t procreate until they matured. (It’s an open question as to whether the people who are more irresponsible about parenting would be terribly reliable in using contraception even if promoted and freely available.) I have more global concerns about the number of humans that are sustainable on planet earth. The procreation values of a bronze age tribe trying to survive and out compete neighbors might not be the sort of thing we need on a planet closing in on 7 billion humans.

In any case, the distinction between Abdul’s post and the Catholic Vote post makes me think, once again, of that book from some years ago positing that Red State culture figures having families turns adolescents into adults and Blue State culture figures only adults should create families.