Gardasil

I'm sure by now most of you have heard of the Gardasil vaccine - targeted at young girls and teens to prevent several strains of HPV as well as some other STDs. http://www.gardasil.com/
And I'm sure you also have heard about the controversy brewing around it, especially from conservative Christians.

I have had several of my friends tell me that there is no need to get the vaccine because they are going to marry men who are virgins. I think this statement puts a lot of trust in the guy to tell you about their past. And it is not that I am an untrusting person, it is more that you cannot make virginity the standard for your marriage. I have a lot of close Christian friends who have had sex before they were married, and almost all regret it. But what's done is done. Does this mean if I love a guy but he has had sex before I can't marry him? And what if he only had sex once - how many times did the girl he had intercourse with have sex before him? Do you see the twisted cycle?

What if I do say that I am only going to marry a virgin but he feels that he has been forgiven by God (or is just ashamed of his past) and therefore doesn't feel the need to tell me about any of his past relationships?

Nathan and I were talking at camp about my True Love Wait's Class. Out of the many many dedicated Christian girls (about 20-25) who made the pledge way back when, very few remained virgins through high school. And even less through college. That doesn't make these girls bad people at all, but the truth of the matter is that most still continued to wear their ring. Their outward sign of purity remained, so what if their husband just assumes they never had sex. Now think about this with the genders reversed.

Here's the thing ladies. HPV doesn't effect guys at all, they are just the carriers. But HPV can kill you. And you only have to contract it once. From one person. One time having sex. Done.

Getting the Gardasil shot is not comparable to giving your child a condem parents. It is not to encourage them to have sex starting at the age of 6, 12, 16, 20 whenever they get the shot. It is to protect her life when she does have sex. Because things aren't the same now that they were in our parents generation.
And let's please be realistic. Whoever started the rumor that the shot is given into your uterus that is just shear stupidity. It is given in the arm, like almost all other vaccines. The shot does not "take away your child's virginity".

I am a Christian. I am a virgin. I hope to marry a strong Christian someday. And I got the vaccine so that his past, whatever it is, doesn't determine my future.