May 16, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The Catholic Medical Association is calling on pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines that are not derived from aborted fetuses.
"The pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the vaccines have the ability and know-how to produce versions of these vaccines which do not depend on cell lines from aborted fetuses,” says a recent statement issued by the CMA. “They should be pressured to develop those vaccines to meet the health needs of those who have religious and ethical objections to abortion.”
Vaccines that have been derived from cell lines originally prepared from tissue taken from voluntarily aborted fetuses include those for rubella and Hepatitis A, among others.
The statement says that physicians and patients are permitted to use the vaccines derived from aborted fetuses “when no effective alternative is available."
However, they noted, it is also permissable to abstain from using these vaccines “if it can be done without significant risk to their health.” And when alternative versions of these vaccines are available, "they must be used in place of those produced by immoral means," reads the CMA statement.