Article taken from Lifenews.com (accessed on 6/8/20)
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas. U.S.A has called for Christians to reject vaccines that are developed using aborted baby body parts.
Concerns about unethically produced vaccines are growing again amid talk about the availability of a coronavirus vaccine in the coming months. While some vaccine researchers have been using ethical materials to develop a coronavirus vaccine, others are using cells from electively aborted unborn babies.
Bishop Strickland said “I renew my call that we reject any vaccine that is developed using aborted children. Even if it originated decades ago it still means a child’s life was ended before it was born and then their body was used as spare parts. We will never end abortion if we do not end this evil”. Just because the crime of abortion is considered legal in our nation does not mean it is morally permissible to use the dead bodies of these children to cure a global pandemic. Emphatically, this practice is evil. I urge you to join me, now, in passionately but prayerfully speaking out against this practice.
The Scientists I’ve spoken with assure me that there is no medical necessity for using aborted children in order to develop the much-needed vaccine to protect us from this particular strain of Coronavirus. Thankfully, ethical means are available and can prove to be just as effective in developing vaccines; umbilical cells, placental cells, adult stem cells and other sources of cells, including even those of insects, provide completely viable paths to an effective vaccine.”
For months, Catholic and pro-life leaders have been urging researchers to develop a coronavirus vaccine using ethically-derived materials. The Charlotte Lozier Institute has said that 17 research groups are conducting ethical vaccine experiments while five are not. The five using aborted baby body parts in their research include researchers with the University of Oxford, Johnson & Johnson and the University of Pittsburgh.
Pro-life leaders also have highlighted how ethical alternatives to tissue from aborted babies are available, including pluripotent stem cells and tissue from placentas, umbilical cords and amniotic fluid. In 2018, the Trump administration created a $20 million grant to invest in these ethical research alternatives. Additionally, some scientists say research using aborted baby body parts has not been successful.
In May, Catholic Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas Archdiocese, U.S.A also urged pro-life advocates to speak out against the unethical use of cells from aborted babies in the creation of a coronavirus vaccine. Speaking with EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Naumann said “ now is the time for Catholics and other pro-lifers to demand ethically developed vaccines”.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.