There is no doubt that the covid-19 vaccines have given all people great hope that there is a light at the end of this pandemic tunnel. All people of faith have been praying for an end to this tragedy. We have been blessed; our prayers have been answered. Or have they?
I Didn’t Know That
Many people of faith who are pro-life supporters are just beginning to find out that many of the covid-19 vaccines are tainted with aborted children’s fetal cell lines. The initial response by most people is that they did not know that. They are somewhat taken aback by this information. When you tell them this truth, you can see the incredulity and troubled expressions on their faces. Their facial expression is usually followed by a response: “I didn’t know that”; “I wasn’t aware of that.”
One of my first reactions upon attaining this news was to find out what the Catholic Church says about this. What do cardinals, bishops, priests, clergy, and Catholic writers say about this? What does the pro-life medical community say about this? What about the moral ethics of a vaccine that is developed using aborted children’s bodies?
USCCB Response
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) came out with a position statement on 11 December 2020. The conclusion of this statement is listed below. You can read the full text here.
The world is currently facing a health crisis. The number of deaths from covid-19 is now almost one and a half million worldwide. In the United States, the toll is approaching 300,000. Given the urgency of this crisis, the lack of available alternative vaccines, and the fact that the connection between an abortion that occurred decades ago and receiving a vaccine produced today is remote, inoculation with the new COVID-19 vaccines in these circumstances can be morally justified.
For our part, we bishops and all Catholics and men and women of goodwill must continue to do what we can to ensure the development, production, and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine without any connection to abortion and to help change what has become the standard practice in much medical research, a practice in which certain morally compromised cell lines are routinely used as a matter of course, with no consideration of the moral question concerning the origins of those cell lines.
The signatories of this document were Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Chairman, Committee on Doctrine, and Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann, Archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas, Chairman, Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, has attempted to clarify this Catholic position. You can read his full statement here.
In the wake of announcements from multiple pharmaceutical companies about safe and effective covid-19 vaccines, many are expressing ethical doubts about whether it is OK to take these vaccines. Do Catholics have a moral duty to decline an inoculation if it was unethically produced using a cell line that came from an abortion?
The short answer is “no.” This has been discussed and explained in several magisterial church documents in recent years.
These are all good men of faith leading their flocks with what they understand about the covid-19 vaccines at this time. However, some clergy do not agree with their position relative to ethically challenged covid-19 vaccines. Instead, they call for a boycott of vaccinations unless or until ethically derived vaccines are available.
Opposition to USCCB Statement
Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Bishop Joseph Strickland state the ends cannot justify the means. These bishops and other church dignitaries are at opposite ends with the Church’s acceptance of these vaccines.
Some churchmen in our day reassure the faithful by affirming that receiving a covid-19 vaccine derived from the cell lines of an aborted child is morally licit if an alternative is not available. They justify their assertion on the basis of “material and remote cooperation” with evil. Such affirmations are extremely anti-pastoral and counterproductive, especially when one considers the increasingly apocalyptic character of the abortion industry, and the inhuman nature of some biomedical research and embryonic technology. Now more than ever, Catholics categorically cannot encourage and promote the sin of abortion, even in the slightest, by accepting these vaccines. Therefore, as Successors of the Apostles and Shepherds responsible for the eternal salvation of souls, we consider it impossible to be silent and maintain an ambiguous attitude regarding our duty to resist with “maximum of determination” (Pope John Paul II) against the “unspeakable crime” of abortion (II Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes 51).
Posting in the National Catholic Register, Janet Smith writes of the uncomfortable situation we are in. For the full text, click here.
Church authorities using principles of traditional moral theology instruct us that it is moral to use the current covid-19 vaccines and that it would be in service of the common good to do so.
They tell us that we can mitigate the false impression that our use of the vaccines by making our objections known … but they don’t do much in that respect. And, frankly, that is scandalous and in fact is one of the factors that leads some other leaders and some pro-lifers to want to reject any use of the vaccines.
Other leaders of the Church—whom many of us have come to respect as prophetic voices—urge us not to use the vaccines as a way of protesting the millions of unborn lives killed every year worldwide.
Confusing Times
If it all sounds a bit confusing, it is because it is confusing.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute has created a graph comparing covid-19 vaccine candidates that are or will be available in the U.S. This graph was updated on 4 January 2021. Examine the chart, and you will see that some companies do make covid-19 vaccines that are not morally compromised. Some questions: Are they available to our geographical area? What if they are not? What should be our next move? What if we feel so strongly about tainted vaccines that we refuse to take them? What about our moral responsibility to our family and our neighbors? As I mentioned, it is confusing.
Catholic Stand co-founder Stacy Trasancos has presented commentary regarding the use of covid-19 vaccines prepared with cell lines derived from aborted children, in narrowly defined limits, but with strong warnings regarding our obligation to protest. She lays out ethical options in biomedical research. You can read the full text here.
Protest with Every Lawful Means
Whether we use the vaccine or not, we are to make life difficult for pharmaceutical industries that continue to use abortion-tainted cell lines in research and production. Here are a few suggestions:
- Email the company (Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson): “If you stop using the remains of aborted children in all research and production, your product will gain the Christian market.” Companies can change their practices, just as Sanofi Pasteur did earlier this year when it committed to discontinuing the use of aborted fetal cell lines in its polio vaccines.
- Contact your representatives and senators. “I object to the use of the remains of aborted children in vaccines or any other biomedical product, and I will back this up with my vote and my money.” It’s okay to be a nag.
- Create social-media chatter. Discussion threads and memes can influence opinions and motivate action very quickly.
- Share this with your priest or bishop. Many people were upset by the USCCB’s recent statement approving the use of the new covid-19 vaccines with a moral calculus that came across as out of touch with the serious ethical concerns over the abortion connections.
- Learn about ways to help organizations committed to ethical biomedical standards that value the sanctity of human life, such as the John Paul II Medical Research Institute.
- If you are skilled in business negotiations, organize a meeting with these pharmaceutical companies and invite your priest or bishop to accompany you.
- Submit a comment or request to speak at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
- Request to make an oral statement at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Vast Medical-University Complex
In January of 1961, the exiting President of the U.S., Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, spoke of a “vast military-industrial complex.” He warned of the dangers that can bring upon our nation and on our relations with other countries. Today, there is a vast medical/university complex that, though seemingly necessary to produce vaccines, is vulnerable to an abuse of moral rectitude. The ends do not justify the means.
As a matter of scientific recourse, the use of aborted babies’ bodies for research of any kind has become standard practice. This practice needs to be exposed and stopped. Other research sources that are not morally compromised need to be cultivated. This practice of using aborted children in research—babies dissected as if they were lab rats—continues today more than ever because our government, universities, and industries fund and exalt it. Our society has become too comfortable with this evil practice. Read Dr. Trasancos’ full article, “How Aborted Children Are Used in Medical Research in 2020,” here.
Your Choice
Where does all this lead us? Should we use vaccines that are morally tainted with aborted fetal cell lines? What is the ethical thing to do?
Whether you decide to get the vaccine or not is your choice. Your choice depends on several factors, e.g., employment, comorbidities, living situations. Then again, you may not even have a choice. Your employer or your children’s school could mandate you to get a vaccine. If you decide to get the vaccine or are required to get one, you strive to receive a morally ethical vaccine. If that is not available, then a less ethical vaccine, and finally a morally compromised vaccine. The point is to get the vaccine for the greater good of your family and neighbor to reach herd immunity.
Reviewing the Charlotte Lozier Institute graph as mentioned above may help determine which vaccine is best, based on your life’s situation. For your information, Pope Francis is scheduled to receive the Pfizer vaccine. I suppose you could say, “If it’s good enough for the Pope, it’s good enough for me,” and I’m still going to be a dissenter of using aborted fetal cell lines and tissues for medical research.
On 13 Saturday 2021, The Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology (ITEST) is holding a webinar titled “Is It Moral to Take the Covid-19 Vaccine?” You can register here. WCAT Radio’s “The Open Door” has an Initial Conversation to the webinar, which features an excellent discussion regarding the ethical concerns about the new covid-19 vaccines with Stacy Trasancos, Ph.D., and Melissa Moschella, Ph.D. View the Initial Conversation at the same registration link above.
Never do evil that good might come of it. (Cf. Romans 3:8)
This article originally appeared on Catholic Stand and is being used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. It is for non-profit use to bring about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart into the world. If you have any questions please contact info@livefatima.io.
