HPV Vaccine - Mandatory or Not?

By now, you'd be hard pressed to find someone in this country who hasn't heard about the recent fight over a new HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine.

HPV is a sexually-transmitted virus which can cause cervical cancer. Every year, 3,700 women die from cervical cancer, many whom were unaware that they even had a virus at all. Recently, a vaccine has been developed to protect young women from this virus and to ultimately provide protection to the next generation of females. Not much is known to the public about this vaccine. Or, at least there is a lack of news about the topic.

Merck has been lobbying for all states to mandate this vaccination for young women nationwide. Naturally, this has created quite a controversy:

Advocates find it necessary to ensure young women don't contract the virus and to decrease their chances of developing cervical cancer in this manner

Opponents believe the vaccine as a mandatory establishment in young women's medical care would support sexuality, and they therefore denounce its potentially immoral use.

Don't nearly all controversial debates stem from a moral argument: Birth control, abortion, the death penalty, etc.? What else is new?

Let's take a general view of medicine. Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) boosters are mandatory. They're also highly contagious. But they're not transmitted sexually. It all stems back to that issue. But wait, is that the issue? What about hepatitis vaccinations? They are also mandatory. They're also highly contagious. The kicker? Hepatitis is transmitted sexually. I guess it doesn't stem back to that issue, does it?