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Conscience Rights versus Covid Coercion…
Life Legal has received hundreds of calls from people who wish to opt out of employer and school COVID vaccination mandates because of the connection to abortion fetal cell lines. We addressed the moral implications of the two vaccine types from a pro-life perspective in previous communications available here (https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C/r/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C_268bf4fe-53e1-4b2c-8a59-ebfb1116048f/l/1F485571-15BC-4BD2-B3B7-C976B637ACF0/c) and here (https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C/r/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C_268bf4fe-53e1-4b2c-8a59-ebfb1116048f/l/E3E2C510-420E-424F-BA1D-787F8DABF2E8/c). Next week we will discuss the slippery slope from fetal cell lines to human subject research that uses the organs and other parts of fully-developed babies.
Life Legal has assisted many people in opting out of vaccine mandates because of the use of aborted fetal cell lines in the testing and/or manufacture of the three vaccines currently available in the U.S. Thus far, our efforts have largely been successful. We have not had to file any lawsuits challenging vaccine mandates. Instead, we have been able to obtain exemptions or accommodations for students and employees based on religious and conscience protections and the federal right of refusal for medical products distributed under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authority (EUA).
We have also seen schools change their policies in regard to forced vaccination. For example, Virginia Tech recently decided to allow religious and medical exemptions to its vaccine mandate. This could be in part because the CDC recently confirmed (https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C/r/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C_268bf4fe-53e1-4b2c-8a59-ebfb1116048f/l/22B18B1F-8397-4B58-9BC3-5C3A8A42F9E4/c) hundreds of cases of acute myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in people under 30, especially young men, who were given the vaccine. Several of those individuals remain in intensive care.
Federal law requires that people who are offered un-approved medical products in a time emergency, like the COVID vaccines, be made aware of “the option to accept or refuse administration of the product…and of the alternatives to the product that are available and of their benefits and risks.” (21 U.S. Code § 360bbb—3)
The language is straightforward. People have the right to refuse vaccines that are available under the FDA’s EUA and be informed about any available alternatives.
Recently, however, a federal judge in Texas ruled (https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C/r/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C_268bf4fe-53e1-4b2c-8a59-ebfb1116048f/l/F6A14EC5-60E1-4D3C-B45A-216A13DB527B/c) that the opt out requirement does not apply to private employers. After Houston Methodist Hospital issued a vaccine mandate, over 100 nurses and other health care workers filed a lawsuit. Judge Lynn Hughes of the Southern District of Texas ruled that the hospital’s mandate did not mean employees were forced to take “the jab.” If they do not want to comply with the vaccine requirement, Hughes said they “will simply need to work somewhere else.”
The purpose of the federal right of refusal is to ensure that people are free from coercion in regard to an emergency medical product that has not received formal FDA approval. The Texas judge seems to have completely missed that point.
Please note that while Life Legal has concerns about the moral implications of the vaccine, we know of many people, including some of our family members, who have taken the vaccine to protect their health and the health of those around them. We understand that there are differing views as to the permissibility of taking the COVID vaccine, even among pro-lifers. Still, we believe that people should be permitted to refuse medical products and procedures that violate their deeply held pro-life convictions.
If you are being forced to take the COVID vaccine even though you object to the vaccine’s connection to aborted fetal cell lines, please contact us (https://eml-pusa01.app.blackbaud.net/intv2/j/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C/r/0A9AD70C-9D24-4F6B-B446-934BE0FCC22C_268bf4fe-53e1-4b2c-8a59-ebfb1116048f/l/5997E6E3-61F5-4231-A8AB-B6149CC4420A/c).
Life Legal (https://lifelegaldefensefoundation.org/)