[BikerNYC]

Is The Pontifical Academy for Life saying that parents have a moral duty not to have their children vaccinated with vaccines developed through techniques associated with abortion? Are parents who have their children vaccinated with such vaccines acting immorally?

[B Knotts]

Looks like yes, and yes, if parents can do so without "grave inconvenience," or "causing children, and indirectly the population as a whole, to undergo significant risks to their health."

At the very least we must push for the development of ethical alternatives.

[NYer]

"The 8-page document, which has been anxiously awaited for several years by pro-life parents and physicians nationwide states that, doctors and families "have a duty to take recourse to alternatives, putting pressure on political authorities and health systems...They should use conscientious objection and oppose by all means " in writing, through various associations, mass media, etc, - the vaccines which do not yet have morally acceptable alternatives, creating pressure so that alternative vaccines are prepared, which are not connected with the abortion of a human foetus..."

What do you think? Would you want your child shot up with vaccines made from aborted fetuses?

[VermiciousKnid]

My children came of school age just as New York state was requiring the chickenpox vaccine for entrance into school. I loudly resisted having my children vaccinated for chickenpox, insisiting that getting childhood chickenpox was FAR less dangerous than possibly contracting it in adulthood.

When I asked the Catholic school that my children would be attending their policy on the chickenpox vaccine, they told me that the diocese (Rockville Centre) adhered to the same rules as New York state. To wit, the kids needed to be vaccinated. I finally allowed the vaccine, but I DID NOT KNOW that this vaccine was derived from aborted babies! In fact, I didn't know it until YEARS later, and when I asked the doctor for the name of the vaccine given to my kids, he told me it was the Varivax vaccine.

Well! I hit the proverbial roof! "How can you give this shot to kids without telling their parents where it comes from?" I asked. "Why do you even bother to to ask your patients' religion if you don't mean to tell them when a treatment might be in direct opposition to their beliefs?"

I honestly don't think the doctor had even thought about any of these questions, but promised me that in the future, he would tell the patients' parents about the vaccine's origins. He believes in them, though, so I don't think he will ever refuse to give them.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre is another matter, though. I would really like to know if THEY know where these vaccines come from, and if they did, would they still demand that their students be vaccinated by them?

I still feel guilty to this day about allowing my kids to be immunized against a disease I KNOW they should get in childhood (if they're going to get it at all). I should have listened to my own instincts and fought this in court. Had I known about the origins of the medication, I NEVER would have allowed it.

Regards,