I have been engaged in an on-line debate with a gradeschool friend (Catholic Gradeschool) where I am being criticized for my stance on embryonic stem cell research. As I have expressed my strong opposition to it, she has now thrown at me that, if I'm going to use religion against this, I should use it across the board. She asked me if I have had my children vaccinated, and then said that according to my standards, that should be immoral since many of them are made with aborted fetuses. Her argument for embryonic stem cell research is that, if those embryos are going to be thrown out anyway, they should at least be used for some good. How is having our children vaccinated with vaccines made from aborted babies any different? I don't know how to answer this.
It sounds as though at the time you had your children vaccinated, you were unaware of vaccines derived from aborted babies. It wasn't immoral if you weren't aware of it at the time your children were vaccinated.
There are alternatives regarding the vaccines. Some drug companies do not use lines stemming from an aborted fetus. There is a great Catholic website that addresses ethics with vaccines (and they are true to the Magesterium!). It is:
I have printed some of the material from this site and presented these to my pediatrician. Even the nurses were shocked to read the info. As Catholic's, it is our duty to make our health care proffessionals aware of these vaccines derived from aborted fetuses and demand to use those lines that aren't. If my MD didn't respect my faith, I would find another one.
Another great pro-life news website that keeps you up to date is:
You can sign up for daily e-mails that keep you up to date with all sorts of pro-life news from conception to natural death. There is a search engine there too that has many recent articles regarding vaccines. We will be praying for you & your friend. PRO VIDA!
It would not be immoral to use one of the vaccines with amino chains from aborted children if there were no other reasonable option available. The intent is to immunize and protect your children which is a good thing and not support the abortion industry and the destruction of children. It would be like saying we shouldn't pay taxes because our money would be used to fund public abortions or put to death criminals. If in paying our taxes it is our desire to support organizations like Planned Parenthood or the execution of criminals then that would be very sinful. But if we pay our taxes as good citizens and we lament the immoral things that tax dollars are used for then we are not contributing to the ruin of our society. I don't know many Catholics who boycott grocery stores and drug stores and other businesses that sell condoms and contraception. What President Bush did with the Embryonic Stem Cell bill was to limit research only to existing embryos. The new President with a stroke of the pen has wiped that away which opens the doors now to creating new children which are doomed to die in the name of "bettering" our lives. Can you say Nazi Socialism? They had no problem doing heinous experiments on Jews, Gypsies, the mentally retarded and other "undeirables" because afterall, they were doomed to die. Saint Jude, Pray For Us.