Covid vaccines developed using cell lines from an aborted baby raise vital ethical questions, the Christian Medical Fellowship says.
Most of the 100 potential vaccines being investigated across the world use a cell line derived originally from a child aborted in Holland in 1973. Known as HEK293, it has also been used in cancer research and in developing commonly accepted vaccinations such as rubella, hepatitis A and rabies. By contrast, a smaller number of possible Covid vaccines, including the one at Imperial College, London, are synthetically derived.
Poll responses
An online poll for Evangelicals Now reveals that 45% of respondents would take a vaccine derived from foetal cell lines ‘with some reservations’, 13% would definitely not, 21% said they would need more information before making a decision, and another 21% said they would take any Covid vaccine, full stop.
One Christian clinician who spoke to en anonymously said: ‘I use HEK293 cells in my research. If the foetal tissues hadn’t been used experimentally, they would have been disposed of. In general terms I don’t support … abortions. Much of the history of medicine is murky, and I feel at peace with using the HEK293 cell line in my research. I can see that much good can come out of [its] use.’
Nazi experiments
The UK’s Christian Medical Fellowship said: ‘This is a frequent ethical dilemma in medicine and other areas. Some physiological data is derived from experiments done by Nazi doctors on Jewish prisoners. There is a balance to strike here. Clearly, we should never be benefitting from something that results in direct harm to others – a transplant organ from a Chinese prisoner, or a manicure from a trafficked Vietnamese woman. In some situations the supply is clearly perpetuated by the demand. In other situations the connection is more distant, as with historic information gained from Nazi horrors (see above).
‘With vaccine production, if current vaccines are benefitting from contemporary abortions, if labs are receiving cells from abortion clinics today, then we must speak out and refuse to perpetuate this link. Paul’s question, “Shall we do evil, that good may result?” should still be answered with a resounding “No” in healthcare today. But if a cell line originally goes back to an abortion many years ago (the foetal cells used in developing the Oxford vaccine were derived from two abortions, one in 1970 and one in 1985), and there is no current link to abortion, it may be less ethically controversial.
‘Christians will differ on this matter, and it is up to individual conscience whether we accept a vaccine from a source, however old, that has ethical questions over it, or another that uses less controversial means. However we choose, there will be other ethical questions to ask of the institutions and methods used – the source of the funds to do the research, how the vaccine is being tested, as well as the ethical history of the institution.’
Analysis
Christians who disagree with abortion are divided over the use of the HEK293 cell line. Some opt for the greater good argument while some take the firm line that no-one should benefit from abortion. The former argument appears to diminish the value of the life of the unborn; the latter may put many at risk from the consequences of not taking a particular medication.
So what should Christians do? Avoid using anything connected to HEK293 even though that may cause unnecessary suffering and a medical crisis if everyone refused to take medication based on this cell line? Turn a blind eye to the abortion of a child which took place within living memory and benefit from that death? Or find a third option? Theoretically, the cell line could be replaced. But that is highly unlikely to happen, even if people campaign for it. The cells have already been used to develop many established treatments.
The dilemma may be faced by a parent of denying their child existing lifesaving help if they refuse all medication connected to HEK293 cells. And the problems don’t stop there. Historically, medicine has many murky areas, in dissection, and other fields. As a Christian medical researcher said to en: ‘I don’t support abortion … and I feel at peace with using the cell line in my research.’
Whatever the answer, the use of HEK293 appears to be a contentious issue among evangelicals.
