Barnaby
Joyce’s been out and about again talking about “women’s issues,” this time
claiming that a cervical cancer vaccine could be taken as a licence for teenage promiscuity.

So that’s the first and
foremost thing on a young girl’s mind when she’s deciding whether to get it on or not
– that she might develop cervical cancer in later life? Not, say, the fear of
getting pregnant? Or catching an STD? Or the double-standard that might see them
labelled a sl*t while their boyfriend gets called a stud.

Nope,
it’s definitely the cervical cancer thing. Better not immunise them then.

Rachel
David, CSL’s director of public affairs, points out that we immunise young girls
against rubella as it can lead to foetal abnormalities if a woman catches it
when pregnant – and that hasn’t led to a rash of teenage pregnancies. And the
Democrats point out this is
pretty typical of the man who thinks RU-486 is going to lead to a flood of
aborted foetuses.

Barnyard
then back-peddled, tried to make it sound like his concerns were all about the actual vaccine, which might
have unexpected side effects: “Because we’ve had too much of a history of
finding things at a later date we thought were wonder drugs at the time but at a
later date have had wider ramifications.”

But boiled down to its nasty essence, is the good Senator from Queensland
really saying he wants other people’s daughters to die so it’s easier for him to
keep his on a leash? Say it ain’t so, Barnyard.