From the USCCB guidelines document on the morality of receiving the vaccine:
"It is important to note that the making of the rubella vaccine (or that of the new COVID19 vaccines) does not involve cells taken directly from the body of an aborted child. Cells taken from two abortions in the 1960s were replicated in a laboratory to produce two cell lines that can be reproduced again and again, ndefinitely. To make the rubella vaccine, cells from these cell lines are stimulated to produce the chemicals necessary for the vaccine. It is not as if the making of the vaccine required ever more cells from ever more abortions.
There are currently three vaccines that have been presented to us as having demonstrated their effectiveness and that are likely to be made available in the coming months, those from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. The situation of the first two is essentially the same. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna used morally compromised cell lines in the design, development, or production of the vaccine. A confirmatory test, however, employing the commonly used, but morally compromised HEK293 cell line was performed on both vaccines. Thus, while neither vaccine is completely free from any connection to morally compromised cell lines, in this case the connection is very remote from the initial evil of the abortion.
In view of the gravity of the current pandemic and the lack of availability of alternative vaccines, the reasons to accept the new COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are sufficiently serious to justify their use, despite their remote connection to morally compromised cell lines. In addition, receiving the COVID-19 vaccine ought to be understood as an act of charity toward the other members of our community. In this way, being vaccinated safely against COVID-19 should be considered an act of love of our neighbor and part of our moral responsibility for the common good.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is more morally compromised. The HEK293 cell line was used in the design, development, and production stages of that vaccine, as well as for confirmatory testing. The current vaccine for rubella, though developed earlier, relies on morally compromised cell lines in much the same way as the newly developed AstraZeneca vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine should be avoided if there are alternatives available."
https://www.usccb.org/moral-considerations-covid-vaccines
When I first heard of the potential abortion connection it was on Catholic radio and I believe a person from the National Catholic Bioethics Center was being interviewed. At that time it didn't seem they knew for sure it was an stem cell line from an aborted baby that was being used. Based on the USCCB document it seems they do know that -- there's a footnote on the document that says "The cell line involved in the three new COVID-19 vaccines, a cell line known as HEK293, has its origin in kidney cells taken from the body of a child aborted in the Netherlands in 1972."
It's a reproducing cell line that doesn't require more abortions to be perform in order to continue manufacturing vaccines.
But the idea that when you receive the vaccine you are injected with cells from that child is not true.
We do all have a connection to that child though. There is a person connected to the often faceless victims of abortion. One whose life among us is now saving lives. Martrydom? Sainthood? In my opinion yes. A life of great value to the common good. That does not justify their abortion. But it should help us to remember that all of these lives have value and meaning, and someday we will know just how much.
