US Coast Guard allows officer to refuse vaccination on moral grounds
Washington, May. 20, 2008 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - US Coast Guard officials have backed down in the face of pressure from a pro-life law firm that recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Coast Guard officer who, officials told him, must submit to a vaccine that was derived based on fetal tissue from abortions.
Lt. Cmmdr. Joseph Healy, who is Catholic, said the vaccine's derivation violates his pro-life moral and religious beliefs.
Coast Guard officials who initially refused to excuse an officer from the injection relented after the Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit. Last week, the Coast Guard notified the US District Court for the District of Columbia that it will grant Healy a religious exemption. As a result, ADF attorneys plan to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit they filed for Healy in January.
“Christians shouldn't be punished for abiding by their beliefs against abortion. The Coast Guard has done the right thing in recognizing that those who lay their life on the line to defend our shores are entitled to the same freedom as anyone else not to have their particular beliefs disregarded," ADF attorney Matt Bowman told LifeNews.com.
“Members of the U.S. military should never be forced to make an unconstitutional choice between honoring their country and adhering to the belief that health and medicine can prosper without exploiting the killing of pre-born children,” Bowman said.
In May 2006, the Coast Guard, which requires its personnel to be vaccinated against a variety of diseases, ordered all active-duty personnel to receive one of two vaccines against Hepatitis A or show proof of immunity. The vaccines are derived from cells taken from the lung tissue of a child who was electively aborted at 14 weeks gestation and then dissected.
Another human being should die so that I can be immunized?!?!? Not!!!
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