So, what does the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops have to say about vaccines cultured on fetal cells? Well, the following statement is found on their website:
1. Should a government agency or private company use tissue from induced abortions for vaccine development or other research? The Catholic bishops have answered in the negative. Such use tends to legitimize abortion as a source of “life-affirming” treatments, and requires collaboration with the abortion industry, which should be avoided. This judgment is reflected in policies governing Catholic health care. See Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (4th edition, 2001): “Catholic health care institutions need to be concerned about the danger of scandal in any association with abortion providers” (Directive 45), and “Catholic health care institutions should not make use of human tissue obtained by direct abortions even for research and therapeutic purposes” (Directive 66).
2. If such collaboration with abortion has already taken place, and the only vaccine made available for serious diseases contains material that was cultured in fetal tissue from an abortion, may Catholics — out of concern for their own health or that of their children or the community – submit to this vaccine without committing serious sin? Most Catholic moralists have replied in the affirmative. The recipient of the vaccine took no part in decisions to base the vaccine on this morally unacceptable source, but is coping with the results of immoral decisions made by others.
It is invalid to cite moral opinions about question (2) to avoid the moral problem posed by question (1). The federal government is choosing here and now to cooperate with researchers who have destroyed human embryos, and even in some cases to reward them with research grants (since these researchers have the most immediate access to the cell lines thereby created).
Moreover, the link between the government’s actions and the destruction of human embryos is even closer here than in the case of vaccine companies using fetal tissue from abortions, because in the present case the taking of human life was done precisely in order to provide cells for research (and in some cases precisely to qualify for federal research grants).
I had a busy day yesterday. So, please excuse that today’s post is short. I will get to the discussion of the above statement tomorrow. However, I would highly recommend that you read it several times. As with many statements from the USCCB, it is quite appropriately nuanced. I will simply point out that point 2 says that it is morally acceptable for parents to let their children receive vaccines, even if they are produced from a line of cells that originally come from an elective abortion. Note that there is no moral problem with vaccines that are merely made from fetal cells, if the death of the fetus was not a deliberate act. If we condemned vaccines even if they came from freely donated fetal tissue from a spontaneous abortion, we would be in danger of having to condemn any organ donation. So, read very carefully and see the moral lines that the USCCB is carefully drawing. They are nuanced lines, as is appropriate for any subject in the realm of moral theology.
===MORE TO COME===
OK, it looks like you covered my question from yesterday with this quote. I’m interested to read your discussion about it tomorrow:
— “Moreover, the link between the government’s actions and the destruction of human embryos is even closer here than in the case of vaccine companies using fetal tissue from abortions, because in the present case the taking of human life was done precisely in order to provide cells for research (and in some cases precisely to qualify for federal research grants).”