Vaccines & Abortion
Are there fetal cells in the mRNA COVID vaccines? How can I get vaccinated if I don’t believe in abortion?
Many Christians have come to me with ethical tensions around vaccines. Some have asked me how they could get vaccinated if they don’t believe in abortion because they’ve heard the term HEK293 cells or that fetal cells are in vaccines. I love the heart of conviction that is behind those questions. If people feel strongly about an issue they perceive as a moral issue then it is understandable that they want to be consistent with their actions and their beliefs. I very much respect that and always think it is wise to ask questions and get facts before making any decision. And to be honest, I would be concerned if there were fetal cells in vaccines too. So let’s dive into what HEK293 cells are and what their role is with vaccine and medical development.
What are HEK293 cells?
The HEK293 cell line was a culture taken in the Netherlands from a single aborted fetus in 1973. Abortion was illegal in the Netherlands until 1984, unless it was absolutely necessary to save the life of the mother. Knowing the law and exceptions during that time period, the implied understanding is that this was an abortion that took place to save the life of the mother. There are no ongoing abortions to keep this cell line alive. The small sample of cells that was taken in 1973 doubles every 34 hours. The cells are immortalized and so far removed from the 1973 sample that they are considered to just be “rounded cells that grow in suspension in cell culture” in the lab.
How are HEK293 cells used in research?
Research design requires many phases and steps to ensure safety. It’s important to understand key steps and why they happen. Scientists read every possible study related to what they want to research to get an understanding of what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and to obtain a foundational framework to begin their study. The theoretical foundation moves to the lab, then animal studies, and then sometimes cell lines to make the link between animals and humans to ensure safety. This is where cells grown in the lab often come into play with many modern medications. Medications and vaccines are often tested on a cell line or a virus grown in a cell line from a lab before testing on humans. If the lab cell phase identifies an error or safety issue, just imagine if that was a person they were testing the medication on first. We need that gap between the lab and human trials for safety. Clinical trial phases start after that phase with a very small sample of people. Then, if success and expected outcomes continue, they move through larger and larger sample sizes before it can even get to a stage of reaching the general population.
Through the entire process, from the moment researchers step into the lab, they are closely monitored by internal and external ethical committees and review boards (speaking from the perspective of submitting documents and sitting on ethics committees, the paperwork is actually quite daunting and time consuming, but thorough). The moment participants enter the process of clinical trials and beyond, Informed Consents are used so that people are aware of everything (available in multiple languages, interpretations, and at different readability levels to ensure understanding- we work hard to clearly communicate with our participants and answer questions before any study takes place!).
What other medications have used HEK203 cells?
This is not a complete list, but some of the medications that have been tested with HEK293 cells include Hydroxychloroquine, cancer treatments, Tylenol, Advil, Aspirin, Aleve, Sudafed, Benadryl, Claritin, Robitussin, Mucinex, Pepto Bismol, Lipitor, Prilosec, Albuterol, Azithromycin, Remdesivir, Metformin, and so many more! If someone does not want the COVID vaccine or other vaccines simply because of the safety testing that was done early on with HEK293 cells, then they should not take any of the medications listed above (and more), because they went through testing as well.
Ethical Considerations
If a person chooses to get the COVID vaccine or other vaccines, it does not mean that they believe in or support abortion. The vaccine development did not require an abortion to take place to be developed, and it is not causing more abortions to happen. One unfortunate abortion took place in 1973, and it is okay to mourn the loss of that life and not agree with what happened. If a person was murdered and you needed an organ transplant, would you turn down the opportunity of that transplant because it was wrong that the person was murdered? We can’t change the abortion that took place in 1973, but what if we mourned the loss of that life and looked at how many lives it is now saving? What if part of the redemption story of that life was to stop the next 6,959,316 people from dying from COVID-19 or other vaccine preventable diseases? If there were ongoing abortions to sustain the HEK293 cells then that would be much harder to process morally and ethically, but it was a single death, just like if a single person were murdered and we had to decide to use organs to save other lives.
These are complex issues that need to be fully understood before jumping to conclusions. I hope this information helps you navigate these grey areas in your families and communities as you decide what is best for your health. Please remember to embrace kindness as you process this. If a person is pro-vaccine or pro-medication, please be kind to those who aren’t. If a person is ant-vax or anti-meds, please be kind to those who support them. We do not all have the same beliefs, but I believe that we can all learn amongst polarizing topics and still be kind in the process.