B
buffalo
Guest
Military officer sues over mandatory vaccine with abortion source
Washington DC, Jan 14, 2008 / 07:15 am (CNA).- A Catholic U.S. Coast Guard officer has filed suit to prevent being forced to receive a Hepatitis vaccination derived from the remains of an aborted child, WorldNetDaily reports.
Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Healy, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), filed a complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint charges the government with using its own arbitrary judgment of what constitutes Catholic theology while permitting religious exemptions to others, effectively discriminating against Healy’s sincerely-held religious beliefs.
Healy had requested a religious exemption from using the Hepatitis A vaccine, which is part of a broad spectrum of vaccine regulations required for active-duty personnel. The Hepatitis vaccine was made mandatory in May 2006. The present vaccine is based on lung cells taken from an elective abortion performed at 14 weeks forty years ago, though a vaccine derived from animal sources is awaiting FDA approval.
In his exemption request, Healy cited a 2005 letter from the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, which condemned the use of cell lines from abortions in vaccines. The letter, titled "Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived From Aborted Human Fetuses,” supported Catholics’ right to refuse such treatment, but did not require that refusal. The document was approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
more…
Washington DC, Jan 14, 2008 / 07:15 am (CNA).- A Catholic U.S. Coast Guard officer has filed suit to prevent being forced to receive a Hepatitis vaccination derived from the remains of an aborted child, WorldNetDaily reports.
Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Healy, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), filed a complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The complaint charges the government with using its own arbitrary judgment of what constitutes Catholic theology while permitting religious exemptions to others, effectively discriminating against Healy’s sincerely-held religious beliefs.
Healy had requested a religious exemption from using the Hepatitis A vaccine, which is part of a broad spectrum of vaccine regulations required for active-duty personnel. The Hepatitis vaccine was made mandatory in May 2006. The present vaccine is based on lung cells taken from an elective abortion performed at 14 weeks forty years ago, though a vaccine derived from animal sources is awaiting FDA approval.
In his exemption request, Healy cited a 2005 letter from the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, which condemned the use of cell lines from abortions in vaccines. The letter, titled "Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared From Cells Derived From Aborted Human Fetuses,” supported Catholics’ right to refuse such treatment, but did not require that refusal. The document was approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
more…