Good news arrives in the medical field, with a blow against cancer.

An experimental vaccine has proved highly effective at preventing cervical cancer in a two-year study involving more than 12,000 women, researchers reported today.

The vaccine works by making people immune to two types of a sexually transmitted virus that cause most cases of the disease.

The vaccine, Gardasil, is made by Merck, which plans to apply for approval to the Food and Drug Administration before the end of this year and, if the vaccine is approved, to market it in 2006.

If it were widely used, the vaccine could save many lives. Worldwide, there are about 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer a year, and 290,000 deaths. Most of the cases and most of the deaths occur in poorer countries where women do not have regular Pap tests, which can detect cancers or precancers early enough for them to be cured. In the United States, where Pap tests are common, 10,400 new cases are expected in 2005, and 3,700 deaths.

Good news, indeed. But...

"Sex is a scary thing in this culture, and the age of the girls to be vaccinated will really be an issue," said Janice Irvine, a University of Massachusetts sociology professor and author of "Talk About Sex," a book on sex education. "You can expect opposition to this vaccine."

Opposition indeed. In what seems like a truly Luddite attitude, the so-called "Christian right" opposes the advancement of this medical breakthrough.

"The best way to prevent HPV is through abstinence," said Bridget Maher, an analyst at the Family Research Council, a conservative group that expects to campaign against making the vaccines mandatory for entering school. "I see potential harm in giving this vaccine to young women."

But what seems to elude our holier-than-thou sister is that abstinence is only effective as long as one abstains. And this is the crux of the morality police's crusade: that women must abstain.

And to ensure this scold, Ms. Maher would withhold a proven medical treatment from women, lest these harlots escape punishment for their transgression.

"Anyone who thinks alot of teenagers aren't sexually active has their head in the sand," said Cody Meissner, a pediatrics professor at Tufts New England Medical Center and vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' infectious disease committee.

As usual, Amanda puts it plain:

The "culture of life" is #1 about minimizing the amount of sex people can actually enjoy in our short spans here on earth, which isn't the kind of living I want in my life. But it's also about making sure that people fall victims to our bodies as often as possible--long, sorry deathbeds with no hope of euthanasia, unwanted pregnancies, illegal and dangerous abortions, wars in Muslim countries, and now there's opposition to a shot that prevents cancer--that's the "culture of life", which may actually be, out of all the cynical phrases conservatives bandy around like "no child left behind" or "compassionate conservative", the worst misnomer of all.

Just so.

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