Earlier this year, we had some very lively discussion on whether it’s appropriate to mandate the HPV vaccine for school-age girls. Some folks argued that parents don’t know when their kids will become sexually active (let’s all hope it’s older than 12, shall we?), so mandating the vaccine protects girls who many not know that they’re risking cervical cancer with sexual activity.
NYT health blogger Tara Parker-Pope revealed some startling findings (reported by researchers at Columbia University) that make me think that contraception during the middle school years may not be such a bad idea after all:

Middle school kids “date.” Nearly …read more