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For Immediate Release
July 18, 2005 - Children of God for Life
Vatican Officials
Condemn Aborted Fetal Vaccine Manufacturers - Demands Ethical
Alternatives
(Largo, FL) Children of God for Life
has received a response from the Pontifical Academy for Life under
the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
regarding vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines. In the
document published in Medicina e Morale by the Center for
Bioethics of Catholic University in Rome and titled,
MORAL
REFLECTIONS ON VACCINES PREPARED FROM CELLS DERIVED FROM ABORTED
HUMAN FOETUSES, Vatican officials put the burden of guilt
100% on the pharmaceutical industry, comparing their moral
complicity to that of the abortionists themselves.
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..."
The document, which can be viewed in full at
http://www.cogforlife.org/vaticanresponse.pdf also supports parents
who refuse to use the vaccines, citing that those who have been
forced to vaccinate experience "a moral coercion of the
conscience ... an unjust alternative choice which must be
eliminated as soon as possible."
"Overall,
I am very pleased with the statement", said Children of God for
Life Executive Director, Debi Vinnedge, who has battled this issue
for years and received the document and letter directly from
Bishop Elio Sgreccia, President of the Pontifical Academy for
Life.
"We
brought the matter to Canon lawyers at the St. Joseph Foundation
prior to sending an appeal on to the Vatican," Vinnedge said.
"There is a serious problem when parents are denied the right to
abstain from these vaccines in accord with State law, simply
because there was nothing from the Church directly addressing
it."
Vinnedge says the PAFL document, which
calls for
"rigorous legal control of the pharmaceutical industry producers" should
also spur action on their Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act,
introduced to members of Congress earlier this year. The
legislation requires that pharmaceutical companies give full
disclosure whenever aborted fetal or embryonic cell lines are used
in their products.
Dr Steven White, President of the Catholic Medical Association agreed. ""We must demand that the pharmaceutical industry provide accurate information on the origin of all vaccines so that we are able to make informed decisions in accord with our moral conscience - and we must mobilize to support development of ethical alternatives." For more information or to schedule an interview, contact, Debi Vinnedge, Director of Children of God for Life at 727 584-3332 or email debi@cogforlife.org
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