LETTERS: SOME VACCINES COME FROM ABORTIONS

To the editor:

Sgt. Todd Parish, serving in the U.S. Air Force, didn't mind when his 1-year-old son was vaccinated against chicken pox a couple of months ago, because he was unaware at the time that the vaccine was made from the cells of aborted children. Similar cells are also used to make vaccine for hepatitis A and rubella.

Parish describes himself as a staunch opponent of abortion. He was appalled to think he had been vaccinated himself in the past with these vaccines. Like David and Goliath in the Bible, Parish now is taking on the military over whether soldiers should be informed about how vaccines are made and be allowed to reject the vaccinations on moral grounds. He is refusing to let his 6-year-old daughter get a chicken pox shot, knowing it would be required to enroll her in school. He has decided to home school his children rather than vaccinate them with cells taken from aborted babies.

I don't know if Parish was planning on making a career in the Air Force. Since this story first broke, he has been stationed with his family in Germany. I do know that living a military life is difficult enough, having been an Air Force wife for 20 years. A military man's life can be made miserable if he decides to buck the tide. Peer pressure is tremendous in situations like this.

Parish deserves a salute for displaying the kind of courage and fortitude that is our country's foundation. There is no doubt that vaccination is necessary in order to eliminate dread diseases, but must the vaccine be made from cells harvested from murdered babies? Surely in the day and age, with so many technological and scientific advances, there must be another method of creating these vaccines. We need to keep trying until we can make these vaccines by other methods.

CHRISTINE E. STEPHENS

Cape Girardeau