The Abortion-Vaccine-Autism Link and What to Do

by Mark Armstrong on June 24, 2010 · 14 comments

Shouldn’t we determine whether injecting the DNA from aborted babies into our children is safe, oh yeah, and moral too?

What’s a Catholic to do?

Let’s not mince words here. We’ve got a problem. Last fall a new study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics found a parent-reported autism prevalence rate of one in every 91 American children, including one in 58 boys. For years, groups like Autism Speaks and public figures like Jenny McCarthy and John Travolta have been trying to find out what is causing this dramatic rise in the number of reported cases of autism. For a time, vaccines were thought to be the culprit because of the thimerosal (a mercury preservative) contained in some vaccines. Now something even more sinister may be the deadly link: the DNA from voluntarily aborted babies that is used as a base ingredient in many childhood vaccines. New research is underway now after the latest findings reinforced the fact that the use of these tainted vaccines correlate perfectly with the spike in autism rates around the world.

This spring Dr. Theresa Deisher, president of the Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), as well as development director for Ave Maria Biotechnology Company received a half-million dollar grant to study the link between residual DNA from voluntarily aborted babies in childhood vaccines and autism.  This comes on the heels of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcing that they had analyzed a subset of worldwide autism disorder incidence data and indentified 1988 as a critical “changepoint” in the rate of rise of autism.

According to Dr. Deisher the only environmental event correlating with this statistical autism trend and the “changepoint” the EPA identified was the introduction of vaccines tainted with the tissues from voluntarily aborted babies.  And there is even more alarming news when you look at other “changepoints” both in the USA and the rest of the world:

We see a change point in 1988 and then we see another change point in 1995 and what both years are associated with is not mercury in the vaccines, it is not relaxed diagnosis (of autism), it is not microwaves, it is not cell phones, it is not sunscreen… it is not any of these sociological or environmental factors because we have looked at them all.

So what is it?

The one event we can find over decades and across continents that is associated with ALL these “changepoints” is the introduction to these countries of aborted fetal cells in produced vaccines.

One of the “changepoints” correlates in the United States with 1995, the same year the chicken pox vaccine tainted with aborted babies was introduced. “And the autism rise from that year forward is dramatic after that year,” said Deisher, who went on:

Further, vaccinating your children against chicken pox may not even be necessary.

Chicken pox vaccine is a vaccine purely for convenience. We have mostly two-parent income families and for them chicken pox is very inconvenient.  Before the tainted-vaccine was available, one million children got chicken pox every year in this country. And according to the Centers for Disease Control 135 children died.  Compare this to 1 in 91 who will develop autism.

Fair Labeling

A lot of parents would like to know if the vaccines they are injecting into their child were produced using the tissues from voluntarily aborted babies. Even if they are not worried about inflicting autism on their child, many Catholic parents believe it is morally reprehensible and against Church teachings. Unfortunately, it is not easy to determine which vaccines are abortion-free.

No law requires companies to tell parents which vaccines contain the DNA from aborted babies. “That’s correct,” said Deisher:

“There is nothing requiring disclosure. On the package insert, which most consumers don’t read, some will state ‘manufactured using human diploid cells’ which are cell lines from an aborted baby. But sometimes that information is coded and not readily understandable to the average consumer.

Sadly, in the United States for vaccines like chicken pox, MMR and others there are no alternatives available that are not tainted with the DNA from voluntarily aborted babies.  There is a list of the tainted vaccines and some of the alternatives that are available at the Children of God for Life website.    http://www.cogforlife.org/

Catholic Teachings

Catholic parents who want to take the moral high ground and not vaccinate their children with tainted vaccines certainly have the right to do so. The Pontifical Academy for Life (PLA) in 2005 told Catholics that they have “a grave responsibility to use alternative vaccines and to make a conscientious objection with regard to those which have moral problems.”

But how often do you hear of a Catholic telling their physician they do not intend to vaccinate their children because of the moral problems of vaccines produced with the tissue from voluntarily aborted babies?

The PLA further stated that just because these vaccines are lawful to use does not let a Catholic off the hook either. In fact, we are either passively or actively supporting the original evil act of abortion when we knowingly choose to use these tainted vaccines and do not express our outrage each time:

The lawfulness of the use of these vaccines should not be misinterpreted as a declaration of the lawfulness of their production, marketing and use, but is to be understood as being a passive material cooperation (emphasis added) and, in its mildest and remotest sense, also active material cooperation , morally justified as an “extrema ratio” due to the necessity to provide for the good of one’s children and of the people who come in contact with the children — especially pregnant women. Such cooperation occurs in a context of moral coercion of the conscience of parents, who are forced to choose to act against their conscience or otherwise, to put the health of their children and of the population as a whole at risk. This is an unjust alternative choice, which must be eliminated as soon as possible.

Maybe if more Catholics did express their outrage for having to use vaccines made from the DNA of innocent babies voluntarily aborted by their mothers, then manufacturers would create new vaccines and eliminate this “unjust alternative choice.”

Maybe if more Catholics would refuse vaccination because they do not want to passively or actively support the killing of innocent babies in the womb then we could stop the rise in autism rates.

Ultimately the ends can never justify the means and in this case using the DNA from voluntarily aborted babies to save us from disease needs to end.

By Mark Armstrong

Co-author of "Amazing Grace for Fathers", website at RaisingCatholicKids.com

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  • delynn

    Not to dismiss your article, but to offer another side:
    In our family, the autism/Asperger’s problem is distinctly genetic. We are addressing the needs of my only child with a diagnosis. He represents the third generation affected. Maybe the fourth, but I can’t verify his great-grandfather’s situation after 100 years. Please know there was no diagnosis possible for them. Asperger’s wasn’t in the books until very recently.I consider Asperger’s part of the autism spectrum.
    Using cells from aborted fetuses is a moral problem! However, vaccines are not the only possible cause of autism…

  • http://www.RaisingCatholicKids.com Mark Armstrong

    Delynn thank you for reading the article and your comments. I have discussed Asperger’s with Dr. Deisher in the past. She would not consider it part of being part of the Autism Disorder. Part of the spectrum yes, not the disorder. I am sure you are aware of the difference. Many countries, doctors, books and guides have made a clear difference between those on the spectrum of Autism and those who have the disorder. Clearly something has happened in the last 50 years to cause a rise in the disorder. These changepoints referenced in the article seem to indicate a link between vaccines with electively aborted babies in them. And you are correct in assessing their morality. Asperger’s and others on the spectrum does not preclude the issue raised here.

  • http://www.priestsforlife.org lesliepalma

    Great article, Mark. Until I went to work for Priests for Life, I had no idea that vaccines were made with the DNA of aborted babies. My guess is that the vast majority of parents, Catholic and otherwise, are similarly ignorant. I never heard a priest give a homily on it. I was a religion writer for 12 years at a newspaper and I never saw a press release issued by the bishops on it. It never occurred to me to ask the pediatrician because most vaccines are not optional, unless you’re planning to home school. So I think there’s still a long way to go to get the word out. I’m going to get a copy of Dr. Deisher’s report and try to do my part in spreading the word.

    I thought Dr. Deisher’s comment on chicken pox being inconvenient for two-career couples was spot on. My sons were 3 and 5 when they came home with chicken pox, the same week I found out I was not only unexpectedly pregnant, at almost 40, but pregnant with twins. I had a miserable month-long bout with chicken pox when I was a teenager so that wasn’t an issue but it was a fairly long 12 days until my boys were well enough to be returned to the general population. Parents who see a way to avoid that type of situation, and unaware of the moral problems surrounding the vaccine, can’t be faulted for taking the needle way out. Education, education, education. We need to spread the word.

    Leslie

  • http://www.thelittleflowerfarm.com staceyjohnson

    Mark,
    as a parent of a child diagnosed with Asperger’s, the whole possible connection between autism and vaccines is very interesting to me. Perhaps you are not aware, but the medical community is going to be eliminating Asperger’s as an independent diagnosis, and merging it with autism. High-functioning, no doubt, but autism nonetheless. The main reason for this, as I understand it, is that while a differential diagnosis between AS and HFA is possible, and differences are apparent when children are young, in most cases, an adult or older child with AS is indistinguishable from an adult or older child with HFA. The main difference between the two is language development, but often that is timing, rather than the ultimate level of language development achieved. Thus, researchers are beginning to believe that the current differences are somewhat arbitrary. At any rate, I don’t think that a genetic component to autism (and there are obvious genetic issues for not just Asperger’s, but autism proper, as currently defined) precludes a connection between autism and the use of fetal cell culture in vaccines. Many disorders have both a genetic AND an environmental component.

  • Ann

    Thank you for your article. You make some interesting points–I would love to have more references to the studies you have used to make your points, especially since this is such a controversial subject. There just seems to be so little good research done on this topic and I’m glad to hear Dr. Deishner is about to tackle the subject. You hint that there are coinciding dates between the rise in autism disorder and the introduction of a vaccine using contents from aborted fetus DNA, yet I wonder if you are making the conclusion that the aborted fetus DNA is the direct cause of this rise? Might there be other factors? (This, of course, would NOT change the unethical use of aborted fetus DNA which is absolutely unacceptable even if it wasn’t the cause of the autism disorder rise…)

    I would also be interested in a possible follow up with more discussion on the moral dilemma given to parents who need to provide for the good of their children, which in many cases involves vaccines. You hinted that the chicken pox vaccine is “purely out of convenience”–do you mean to imply that there are no other reasons for it? I would have loved to be a parent who refused vaccines for ethical reasons, but we have a child with serious health concerns (rare chromosome deletion) and it was definitely in his best interest to have him vaccinated. The vaccines have brought about a lot of good for our son!

  • bbee

    Thank you for this informative and insightful article. Being Catholic in this culture is very difficult, and with articles such as these at least parents can evaluate the issues based on sound moral principles. You note the sad fact that no guidance on these issues seems to be forthcoming from the U.S. bishops.

    However, one point of contention: as I read the article I was continually jarred by the expression “voluntarily aborted babies.” I see what is meant is that the mother voluntarily aborted her child, but grammatically the phrase suggests that the child volunteered to be aborted. Perhaps a clearer term could be found, such as “not medically necessary abortions” or “abortion-clinic babies” or even “unwanted aborted babies.”

    Thanks and God Bless you.

  • http://arkanabar.blogspot.com Arkanabar Ilarsadin

    If these vaccines contribute to autism the way we think they do, the mechanism is fetal DNA in the vaccine inserts itself into an otherwise healthy genome, distorting it. They would be mutagenic, creating genetic disorders where none had previously existed. Thus, the effect would be regarded as both environmental and genetic.

  • http://brendakaren.wordpress.com/ Mary Ann

    Abortion is a huge moral evil; the killing of the unborn. It should be opposed at every level.

    Delynn raised an important point. It is really clear that not all cases of autism stem from vaccines that have aborted fetal DNA in them.

    Mark, when Delynn talks about autism/Asperger’s, it may well be that there is a mixture of severe to high functioning autism and also Asperser’s among three or four generations of her family. I do not know her case, but I do know my own family’s case.

    I am the mother of the most number of children on the autism spectrum; born to any women in Australia and my children (who are now between the ages of 23 to 30) are everything from severely autistic to moderately autistic. Severe to moderate mental retardation is also involved.

    In addition my youngest brother who was born in mid 1965 was also severely autistic. He never spoke (except for two words in his whole life.) He died at the age of 24 years (from epilepsy complications.)

    Delynn (who wrote comment no. 2 to your article) has not dismissed any possibility of aborted fetal DNA contributing to the rise of autism, but you dismissed her hereditary/family/generational information out of hand, because she mentioned the word Asperger’s and you think that she is talking about another disease altogether. She is not. She actually wrote autism/Asperger’s, not just Asperser’s.

    Comment number 5 to your article by Stacy Johnson is relevant here, where Stacy says that the medical profession is now saying that autism and Asperser’s are the same condition.

    In my opinion the basic difference between Asperser’s and autism is simply; that the person who has Asperser’s is far more gifted and possibly has a much higher I.Q. than the person who is classified as autistic. (In other words Asperser’s is autism coupled with a higher set of abilities.)

    Mark, Delynn and I just want you to acknowledge that the family/generational/ hereditary link for autism is real.

    I have written an article detailing my daughter’s vaccine schedule and it shows conclusively that she that she has never been given the MMR vaccine, which many people have said caused autism, when they were pointing the finger at mercury and other components in the vaccine.

    (She is my oldest child who was born with severe autism, but has made spectacular progress through prayer and effort on the part of many people.)

    It has been proven that even when the MMR vaccine has been stopped in some countries that the autism rate has continued to rise.

    It is unlikely that my brother ever had the MMR vaccine either, since as far as I know, it was not administered in Australia in 1965.

    The article with information on autism in two generations of my family and my oldest child’s vaccine schedule is at:

    http://missionbell.homestead.com/autism.html

    The article also addresses other things that have been thought to cause autism. I address each one of these and put forward my evidence against these theories. Just to give you a hint of some of the crazy ideas that surround this issue, I will mention just one for now. Rainy areas are supposed to cause more cases of autism. I live in the driest country in the world: Australia! Need I say more?

    If anyone reading this has a person in their family who has autism or any autism related disorder, please visit The Novena to St Philomena the Worker for the healing of autism at:

    http://missionbell.homestead.com/novenaforautisticchildren.html

  • Bruce Roeder

    Very interesting and troubling. As usual, I have learned alot from this aritcle and the comments.

    Thank you.

  • http://cause-of-our-joy.blogspot.com Leticia Velasquez

    Today my daughter and I faced religious discrimination beacause of our Catholic faith in a Northestern Connecticut community hospital. She was denied access to a summer internship because of our religious objections to this vaccine.

    We had objected to the vaccine on relgious grounds. This was accepted by her Catholic high school,and by the public school of my youngest daughter. They have to; it’s the law in 49 of 50 states. I listened to the testimony before Congress of those who wanted the vaccine mandated by the Department of Health; their reason was when children have chicken pox, they must be isolated for two weeks,and this causes an undue burden on working women. Not a health based reason, mind you, but a reason based on convenience. Unbelievable!!!
    We have to accept a vaccine which violates our inviolable religious tenets of the value of human life, and accept an increased risk of autism, and shingles as an adult, so that some working women don’t have to miss two weeks of work to care for a sick child.

    My bright and compassionate 17 year old daughter who is on the honor roll, president of her senior class, is considering a career as an RN, a field which is facing a severe shortage, was just turned down for a coveted internship because of her Catholic faith.
    What will happen to the nursing profession if such promising young people are all excluded? Will be only accept candidates who are willing to compromise their moral convictions and stand by while atrocities are being committed? Will they have to participate in assistaed suicide and abortions? In some states, the answer is already yes, and under Obamacare, there are NO conscience protections for health care workers.
    This is a situation which cries out for valiant Cathoics to take brave stands.
    Are you with me?

  • http://onesimplemama.com Erika Marie

    Dear Mark,
    It is definitely great to see SOMEone in the Catholic media broaching the subject but to you Mr. Armstrong I’d have to say, ‘honey you have no idea just how big a deal this is!’
    When I first read about this study, I found it deeply ironic. I mean here we are vaccinationg our kids against Rubella, for example, to prevent congenital rubella syndrome in unborn babies using a vaccine with stem-cell tissue from babies who’d been aborted voluntarily…and now there’s a chance that those poor babies’ DNA is mixing with other innoncent children’s DNA and possibly causing autism? It sounds too crazy to be true but what if it is?
    I want to know why are there not more people who see a real problem with this?

    It’s a horrible disgusting tragedy but it’s a reality and we, Catholics, MUST look at it and address it. Like I commented on the abortion-money article, as long as people continue to use these, despite knowing what’s in them, they will continue to be used, no matter what the consequences are.

    If Catholics were ‘banned’ from using these vaccines then the manufactures of such vaccines would definitely be hearing from the people and may have even already come up with realistic alternatives by now for those concerned. But the Church has remained mostly silent on the issue for fear of how they might affect the ‘public health’ and the ‘common good’ of others.

  • http://personalrevelation.wordpress.com/ Jon_in_Charlotte

    Mark,

    The subject of your article needs to be explored and deserves continual attention. When my wife and I discovered that vaccines were tainted with aborted fetal cell lines we made a conscience decision to not vaccinate our children with these vaccines. We’ve done a great deal of study on the subject and have communicated with Debbi Vinnedge, president of Children of God for Life and Father Ted Pacholczyk on the subject. It is an issue that the Catholic Church, in the U.S. in particular, cannot seem to come to a decisive and unified position as to whether or not Catholics should vaccinate their children with these tainted vacccines.

    In my particular dicocese my wife and I were unable to send our only son, named John Paul, to Catholic school because they didn’t allow for a religious exemption on the issue. Had my family practiced another religion, for example Jehovah’s Witness, then we would have been allowed a religious exemption and our son could attend Catholic school not having had the vaccines.

    I understand and can appreciate that parents are concerned for the physical health and well being of their children and feel an obigation to their responsiblility as parents to prevent their children from physical harm or to the social ramifications of spreading harmful diseases, but, but, but, what has not been explored, studied, or given the least of attention is how these vaccines affect our spiritual beings. Does the fears (peer pressure) associated with parents failure to vaccinate their children prompt (compel) one to alleviate the fear through vaccinating their children, only to compromsie the spiritual well being of their children in the process. Have we not seen how the Vaccine industry uses fear (swine flu pandemic) to sell its products.

    I, personally, have found some solace through scripture on the subject.
    From the Book of Luke;
    11
    What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?
    12
    Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?…
    35
    Take care, then, that the light in you not become darkness…
    46
    And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.
    47
    Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.
    48
    Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.
    49
    Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; 13 some of them they will kill and persecute’
    50
    in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,
    51
    from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah 14 who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!
    52
    Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.”

    By accepting these tainted vaccines aren’t we consenting to the evil deeds of our ancestors, those who would have the children aborted for the use of their bodies in vaccines. And, aren’t we continuing to be guilty in not opposing the continual use of these aborted fetal cell lines as the continue to build products from them.

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