To Encourage Synod to Clarify Our Stance on Fetal Tissues and Their Use Related to Pharmaceutical Products

WHEREAS, God’s Word condemns murder (Ex. 20:13; Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9); and

WHEREAS, God pledges a reckoning for the shedding of innocent blood (Gen. 9:5–6); and

WHEREAS, God’s children are called away from self-seeking (Rom. 2:8), but rather to seek good for our neighbor (1 Cor. 10:23– 24); and

WHEREAS, The recent controversy surrounding vaccines for the COVID-19 virus have brought into the spotlight the ethical question of the relationship of fetal tissue to the production of some vaccines; and

WHEREAS, Abortion violates God’s call to protect life; and

WHEREAS, Aborted tissue has been harnessed in the field of pharmaceutical experimentation; and

WHEREAS, These tissues, and the cell lines derived from these tissues, are used to test certain pharmaceuticals, as well asto design, produce, and/or manufacture them, resulting in different levels of contact and use of such tissues with those products; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Missouri District memorialize The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) in convention to direct the Commission on Theology and Church Relations and the two seminaries of our Synod to clarify any theological significance between the different types of fetal tissues used and if they are used directly or are derived cell lines; and be it further

Resolved, That the above entities clarify what is biblically and ethically acceptable regarding the pharmaceutical products that in various manners are related to fetal tissues and how to differentiate for the sake of conscience; and be it finally

Resolved, That the LCMS congregations and pastors be encouraged to then apply the resulting guidance in our teachings and lives.