ethics
of
hek293
Abortion was illegal
HEK293 is not unethical
Is HEK293 ethical?
Ethical concerns regarding vaccines and their use of cell lines in the design, production, and testing of vaccines may lead one to abstain from vaccines due to sincerely held pro-life beliefs. Those who abstain are courageous souls willing to lay down their lives to stand by their morals. Unfortunately, there is a vast amount of misinformation about the sourcing of cell line HEK293. The good news is that Pro-Life Approved has compiled research to relieve pro-life concerns. The following is the evidence that the fetus' death was from a miscarriage or to save her mother's life.
What is HEK293?
HEK293 is a human embryonic kidney cell transformed with adenovirus and grown in tissue culture.1 The origins of the HEK293 cell lines were from a fetus in the Netherlands, approximately around 1973.
Was abortion illegal?
Over the years, many assumed that HEK293 derived from a medically unnecessary abortion. However, that cannot be the case. The primary reason is that abortion was illegal in the Netherlands due to the Morality Acts of 1911. Legally, doctors could only perform an abortion if the mother's life was in peril. Otherwise, the practice was strictly prohibited (Abortion in the Netherlands, 2021).
Abortion or Miscarriage?
The medical definition of a miscarriage is spontaneous abortion. (Rapp & Alves, 2021) Spontaneous abortion is a well-known term within the medical community. However, the public often misuses this phrase. Unfortunately, viable fetuses perish regularly due to natural causes. The term spontaneous abortion has been used interchangeably with the term abortion. The aforementioned has confused members of the pro-life community. We hope to bring clarification to this misunderstanding.
Why can't we save the baby?
The other situation to be analyzed is the ethics of a woman who needs an abortion to save her life. One may state, "Abortion is never needed, even if it is to save the life of a mother." However, this is a denial of the medical facts. Let us consider the life of the fetus in this dilemma. If the fetus was viable, a cesarean section could save their lives. In this situation, the mother's life would not have been in danger. Therefore, abortion would have been illegal at the time of the fetus's passing. If the fetus were not viable, then the mother's loss of life would have terminated the fetus's life. So, there is no practical way to save the fetus's life in these cases. These sort of situations place the HEK293 cells in the same category as organs donated to science. Medically benefiting from the use of the HEK293 cell line is ethically similar to receiving an organ transplant.
Disclaimer: Please note there are no HEK293 cells in the Moderna and Commnity vaccines.
What Vaccines are Pro-Life Approved?
Moderna's vaccine and Pfizer's Commnity vaccines; both meet Pro-Life Approved standards for ethical vaccines. In addition to those vaccines, the Novavax vaccine is also Pro-Life Approved. We cannot recommend the Johnson and Johnson's, Janssen, COVID-19 vaccine, since Johnson and Johnson used the PER.C6 cells line in its production. In the case of cell line PER.C6, we have yet to rule out the use of elective abortion. When getting vaccinated, have a clear conscience, and be thankful for her brief yet impactful life. Her contributions have been certainly world-changing.