On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote to uphold the New York vaccination order for health care workers after petitioners challenged the order for lack of a religious exception. In his dissenting opinion, Thomas wrote that the petitioners – which included 16 state health workers – were “religiously opposed to all available COVID-19 vaccines because they were developed using cell lines derived from children who have been expelled “, citing the complaint of the petitioners in his dispute. While it is true that embryonic cell lines were vital to testing the efficacy of vaccines for COVID-19, this is often misinterpreted as claims that recently released embryos were used to create the vaccines or that the vaccines themselves contained waste embryonic cells. In fact, the cell lines were developed in a laboratory by extracting cells from two selective abortions several decades ago, according to a guide from the North Dakota Department of Health who deals with vaccines and embryonic cell lines. Specifically, the cells were derived from a kidney cell line isolated from an embryo in 1973 and a retinal cell line from an embryo expelled in 1985. Selective means that the abortion was voluntary and was not done for the sole purpose of developing a vaccine. These cell lines were critical to the research and development of other more common forms of treatment, such as ibuprofen, aspirin, and cold medication. “Any vaccine based on these historical cell lines will not require or request new abortions,” according to the North Dakota Department of Health brochure. “While embryonic cell lines can be used to develop or make COVID-19 vaccines, the vaccines themselves do not contain discarded embryonic cells.” In its guide, the North Dakota Department of Health wrote that the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life political organization, found the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “ethically undisputed” and also cited the U.S. Conference Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. Π.Α. Catholic Bishops saying that “one can receive any of the clinically recommended vaccines with good conscience”. Some supporters of Thomas argue that justice was simply repeating the claims of health workers, according to Politico. Judges Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch disagreed with Thomas.
