Posted on 12/31/2020 10:32:38 AM PST by Eleutheria5
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For pro-life Americans, however, there remains the serious ethical concern over the use of cells harvested from aborted fetuses in testing and developing the various coronavirus vaccines. How is one to make a moral judgment in weighing the cost of taking one of these two vaccines against the cost of waiting for the release of others in which fetal cell lines played no role at all?
Neither of the two pro-life advocates I spoke with on the topic — Dr. Joseph Meaney, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, or Dr. Tara Sander Lee, a senior fellow at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and director of its life-sciences program — felt it appropriate to direct others to make one decision or another. Instead, they encouraged individuals to consider all of the ethical factors at play so that they can come to an informed decision for themselves.
First, it’s important to identify the provenance of the cells used in testing. In the case of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it was HEK 293 kidney cells that were used. These are believed to have originated with an abortion, but note my use of the singular. HEK 293s are not continuously gathered as more abortions are performed. They were originally gleaned from a 1973 procedure in the Netherlands and have since been reproduced in labs for various research purposes. Dr. Lee explained in an interview with National Review that “a fetal cell line is not the same as fetal tissue.” These cell lines began with a cell taken from fetal tissue, but the actual cells used for research were “multiplied into many cells of the same kind.” ....
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(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Dr. Lee explained ...... “a fetal cell line is not the same as fetal tissue.”... These cell lines began with a cell taken from fetal tissue, but the actual cells used for research were “multiplied into many cells of the same kind.” ....
So the origin IS from a cell taken from a fetus...then multiplied..... however how they do that isn’t stated.
1 Corinthians 8 comes to mind.
HEK293 are not fetal cells. They aren’t even human anymore in that they were transformed via viral transduction, then selected for over time for cells that survived and that grew well and were easy to maintain. These selected cells no longer have the human complement of 46 chromosomes.
The initial source of cells used to be modified and selected to create this stable cell line was a girl who was aborted in Europe in 1973. The reason for the abortion or whether it was spontaneous or induced is not known.
The cells are not in the vaccine or used to make the vaccine but we’re used To separately grow proteins that are used in a test to see if the vaccine was functioning right.
Woody Allen said, “never clone alone”. Just to be neighborly I’ll take his word.
How again is this different than using the skins of dead Jews to make lampshades? I mean, after all, they -were- already dead, right?
On the one hand you have cells created from the source cells
taken in 1973. Not good.
On the other hand you have a lot of living people today that
could be infected if you contracted the disease and spread it.
I don’t think either a yes or no decision is free from moral
weight.
One one hand, red China shouldn’t murder people and sell their organs. On the other hand, those organs could save some lives.
I don’t think either a yes or no decision is free from moral
weight./s
I don’t know. It’s a valid comparison, but I’m not sure if it’s accurate. This isn’t a lampshade, but a purportedly life-saving vaccine, and the stem cells are not in the vaccine, just were used to develop it, and it’s not from the fetus itself, but from stem cell lines derived from a fetus a long time ago. I’ll ask a rabbi and see what he says.
“So the origin IS from a cell taken from a fetus...then multiplied..... however how they do that isn’t stated.”
It is a little more complicated than that. The process is well documented but above your paygrade.
“d the stem cells are not in the vaccine, just were used to develop it”
Kidney, not stem cells although processing was performed so no longer ordinary kidney cells.
“How again is this different than using the skins of dead Jews to make lampshades? I mean, after all, they -were- already dead, right?”
Wrong.
That’s a bit of a stretch to make a point.
First off, I didn’t say taking the vaccine was without moral
weight.
As for comparing an organ harvested from one sacrificed human
to give to another human, that’s a life taken on a one to
one ratio. Heart taken. Man dies. Recipient lives.
That’s not exactly the same thing that is taking place here.
A new abortion does not have to take place for every human
vaccinated.
As a matter of fact, no human has had to die in 47 years,
once the original cell was harvested.
100s of millions of people will be vaccinated to prevent them
from being exposed to a deadly disease.
Do we just let the disease run rampant even though there is
a way to vaccinate against it?
Do we let 1, 2, 5 or tens of millions of people die?
Is that a morally inconsequential decision?
I don’t like the fact that these cells originated from an
aborted baby. Perhaps the most evil part of this is that
they more than likely could have come up with this vaccine
using live human cells.
It’s my take that they used the fetal cell line so they
could forever hold it up and say, “See, we told you these
would save lives and you wouldn’t believe us.”
That was an evil act.
Look, the odds are against you!
There is only a +99% survival rate to this virus!
You have to do whatever you can to overcome those odds...
/s
+1. (Excellent answer!)
Life was so simple before the federal government began “helping” us. You got sick, got well, hung around the ink well. Don’t be a fool, you better shoot pool. The pump don’t work because the vandals stole the handle.
But now, I already tried one-upping the mask Nazis by sticking my head up my ass (how’s THAT for protection!), and being just 60 years old with a co-morbidity instead of 65. Haven’t I done enough?! No. Of course not. Now they want me to benefit from research that used a dead baby’s kidney clones, made into monsters with viruses somehow.
I don't know about you however when I stand before Almighty God I don't want to have to defend my life and how I lived it based on "technicalities" or "very important distinctions".
No good comes from evil and abortion is evil. The fact that cells from an aborted human being were used in any way to develop this "vaccine" makes it the legal equivalent of "fruit of the poison tree."
I'm not taking it, period. It just isn't going to happen. I say that as a high risk individual (immune system compromised) who values the sanctity and dignity of human life at ALL stages.
I know I've gotten a lot of things wrong in my life and when I stand before God I don't want to get this one wrong. I've enough bad stuff He's going to hold me accountable for.
Respectfully, the fact that these cells can be traced back to the human being that was aborted in the 1970's makes them human in my view.
So very VERY well said. Internet Post of the Day.
Thank you.
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