In June 2005, the Pontifical Academy for Life issued guidelines on the use of aborted fetal cell lines in vaccines and other medical products. In essence, if the vaccines are needed due to “considerable dangers to their health” or “significant risk” the PAFL permits parents to use them “on a temporary basis”. However, the duty to put an end to this injustice was eminently clear:

“Therefore, doctors and fathers of families have a duty to take recourse to alternative vaccines (if they exist), putting pressure on the political authorities and health systems so that other vaccines without moral problems become available. They should take recourse, if necessary, to the use of conscientious objection with regard to the use of vaccines produced by means of cell lines of aborted human foetal origin. Equally, they should oppose by all means (in writing, through the 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, and requesting rigorous legal control of the pharmaceutical industry producers.”

In December 2008, this duty became an official instruction in the teaching, Dignitas Personae, in which the Holy See stated that: “everyone has the duty to make known their disagreement and to ask that their healthcare system make other types of vaccines available.”

We are uniting in a faithful response to the call of our Church by asking you to participate in two important petitions. As some of you may have heard, Merck has recently announced they will no longer provide their morally produced doses of measles and mumps vaccines, opting instead to only produce their tainted, MMR, which is produced using aborted fetal materials. A national petition is being sent to Merck requesting they respect the pro-life convictions of millions of families worldwide and continue to provide these doses.

A second effort is also underway that will force the pharmaceutical industry through legislative action to divulge whenever aborted fetal or embryonic materials are used in any medical product or vaccine so that moral alternatives may be selected in advance of purchase or immunization. The Fair Labeling and Informed Consent Act opens the market for competing companies that have agreed to provide ethical versions.

One such company founded last year for this purpose is Ave Maria Biotechnology. World-renowned Catholic scientist, Dr. Theresa Deisher (pronounced “dye-shur”) founder and CEO has agreed to provide moral alternatives for every vaccine that presently uses aborted fetal cell lines. The first will be a moral rubella vaccine, expected to be licensed and available in the US by the end of 2010 and an MMR within 5 years. But without the separate doses for measles and mumps in the interim, her efforts will be fruitless. And without the legislation, how will anyone know which vaccines are morally acceptable? There are numerous new vaccines under development for Flu, Avian Flu, and West Nile virus: some are morally produced, some are not.

The full document “Dignitas Personae” can be found online here.