The Unborn Should Never Be Collateral Damage

The muted response to concerns about COVID-19 vaccine risks to babies in the womb reflects a culture that no longer regards the unborn as human.

The argument: The Fauci texts expose a dangerous hierarchy of human life in a society willing to subordinate the dignity of the unborn to broader institutional priorities.

WHY IT MATTERS

Only 27% of Americans report confidence in the institutions that guide them. That distrust is hardly surprising when those institutions appear willing to treat babies in the womb as expendable. The recent release of information about the COVID-19 vaccine has brought this concern into sharper focus, raising questions about whether the risk of miscarriage during pregnancy was treated too casually and whether this reflects a broader loss of reverence for unborn life.

Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have released a 2021 text chain obtained from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government cellphone. Messages between Dr. Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and Vivek Murthy include an internal discussion about COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, in which Fauci states that the second dose “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.” Subsequent public statements, however, indicated no cause for concern among pregnant women. The failure of integrity of the institutions we rely on for guidance is only part of the story. What ultimately needs restoring is respect for the unborn child’s right to life.

This incident should not be seen merely as an exposé of individuals who failed to be transparent in roles of national authority, for this is nothing new. It is a mirror of a culture permeated by an abortive mentality, one that treats unborn children as collateral damage for a number of reasons, whether a life is sacrificed for the sake of a career or in this case, to meet national public health quotas. Despite the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, abortion rates have increased by 21% since 2020, a sign that abortion remains embedded in the nation’s moral imagination as a response to challenging circumstances or an acceptable by-product when institutional priorities take precedence.

Defenders of Fauci and those who maintain confidence in the efficacy and trustworthiness of the COVID-19 vaccine tend to respond in two ways. The first is to dismiss concerns raised by findings on vaccine safety during pregnancy. A 2022 study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found more than twice the odds of a significant health event after a second vaccine dose in pregnant women. The study also monitored pregnancy loss, reporting 83 miscarriages or stillbirths within seven days of the first dose, 88% of them during the first trimester. When the concern cannot be dismissed, however, the question becomes whether, if such risk is confirmed, the unborn child would warrant equal protection in the first place. Their second response effectively places the wellbeing of those already born above the protection of the unborn. This hierarchy, however, offers little consolation to mothers who have suffered the grief of losing their children.

When we depart from the Christian belief that all life has equal value, dignity, and worth, we inevitably create a hierarchy in which some lives are afforded more protection than others. Abortion is the clearest expression of this principle, but its influence extends beyond the abortion debate itself, normalizing the idea that unborn life may be subordinated to other priorities. The unborn bear the brunt of this hierarchy: neither seen nor heard, they are easily disregarded. To restore the West, we must understand that abortion is not confined to the private sphere but has become an institution in its own right, underpinned by a philosophy of the unborn that permeates our politics, medicine, and institutions.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The recent revelations about the COVID-19 vaccine expose a deeper failure within our institutions, one that denies unborn life equal dignity and protection. The Fauci texts may seem casual on the surface, but a more discerning look reveals something more sinister—a betrayal of mothers’ trust and a reckless disregard for their children in the womb.