Vax/Anti-Vax

Y'know what?  I'm getting really tired of the whole crusade against anti-vaxers thing on Facebook lately.  And I get the pro vaccination side has the science on their side.

But I've noticed an interesting correlation, the loudest voices on the "anti-vaxers are stupid" side seem to be women, many of whom with profoundly feminist and pro-choice attitudes.

And this is where it's making me crazy, because I don't think they grasp the extent to which their argument is inherently contradictory.

If you want to spend a lot of time trying to educate people on the benefits of vaccinations, that's great.  Try to convince them that vaccinating is the right thing to do, try to educate them with science, try to show them how the things they believe have been disproved, discredited, or otherwise have come from disreputable sources.

But when you start haranguing people to pester them into doing what you believe they should do, or pushing to close what you see as loopholes in laws that allow people to choose for themselves, you are essentially fighting against the argument you've used for many years regarding abortion:  my body, my choice.

Because that's what it comes down to.  If a person chooses not to vaccinate, it is their body and they should have that right.  And the answer to that is "Well, if you choose not to vaccinate, that hurts everyone, because the herd immunity requires a certain percentage of vaccinations", but seriously, how would you react if I said "You shouldn't have that abortion, because the man you slept with, the baby and most of the members of your family believe abortion is wrong, and so in the best interests of everyone involved, you should be forced to carry that baby."

Everything else aside, you either believe in the sanctity of the body and the right of people to have ultimate say over their own, or you do not.  If you don't, then you need to find a better argument for why abortion should be allowed, because the self-righteous, sanctimonious "It's my body, you shouldn't be telling me what I have to do with it" argument is gone once you take the other side of the argument with regard to vaccines.

Look, I don't agree with a lot of people on a lot of things.  But that doesn't make me right and/or them wrong.  And even when I am, part of living in a free society is that freedom isn't restricted to only being free to choose the RIGHT answer, you're free to choose even if it's the WRONG answer.  And if you believe that vaccinations are ultimately harmful, or if you subscribe to a religion that equates taking vaccines into the body with accepting the imprint of the devil, or whatever you believe, ultimately it doesn't matter WHY.  It's your body, it's your choice, and if you don't want vaccines in your body, you should not be forced to have them.

I am absolutely not arguing the merits of the science.  I am saying the science doesn't matter, it is ultimately up to people to decide what to do with their own bodies (and by extension, their children's bodies, until those children are old enough to make up their own minds).

All I'm asking is that you be consistent.  Approach anti-vaxers the same way you'd approach a woman who was planning to have an abortion that you felt was ill-advised, with the same respect to their decision and with an attempt to persuade with facts rather than challenging the right to bodily autonomy.

Because honestly, the more you try to FORCE the vaccines, the more the die-hards will push back anyway.