US President Donald Trump speaks at the 47th annual "March for Life" rally in Washington, DC, January 24, 2020. (Photo by AFP)
A cocktail of antibodies President Donald Trump received as treatment for COVID-19 has been derived from fetal cells obtained from an abortion, a practice his administration has denounced as morally wrong.
Trump received a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, manufactured by Regeneron, over the weekend after he was diagnosed by COVID-19.
Touted by the president as a "cure" for the coronavirus, the drug was tested using a cell line originally derived from embryonic cells from an abortion performed decades ago.
"It was incredible the impact it had," he said in a video he tweeted Thursday.
The infusion which the president received under a "compassionate use" exemption is a dramatic departure from his Republican Partys platform explicitly opposing embryonic stem cell research.
Trump himself has consistently sought to restrict access to abortion, a stance he most recently illustrated when he nominated conservative Catholic Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court last month.
The anti-abortion movement is one of Trumps most enthusiastic bases of support.
The president has already limited research using embryonic stem cells and last year his administration halted federal funding for scientific studies on the subject.
Trump became the first president to speak at the anti-abortion March for Life rally early this year.
"Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House," Trump told his supporters in January. "And as the Bible tells us, each person is wonderfully made."
"We stopped the federal funding of fetal tissue research, which everybody felt was so important," hesaid. "Were standing up to the pro-abortion lobby like never before."
A an administration official, speaking to the New York Times on condition of anonymity, argued Thursday that Trumps embracing of the antiviral drug was not a contradiction.
The official added that the administrations policy on embryonic research "specifically excluded" cell lines made before June 2019.
A Regeneron spokesperson said in a statement that the HEK-293T line of cells used in the treatment has been "immortalized," meaning they divide freely in the lab.
The company, therefore, does not consider the cells "tissue," Alexandra Bowie told the MIT Technology Review.
At least two companies racing to create a COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna and AstraZeneca, are also relying on the cells.Johnson & Johnson is another company testing its vaccine from cell line originally produced from fetal tissue.
All three companies have received federal funding for their research.
Trump has been widely criticized for his handling of the novel coronavirus which has killed more than 215,000 Americans, by far the largest death toll of any country in the world.
In a video on Twitter late on Wednesday, Trump boasted that catching COVID-19 was a "gift from God" because it gave him insight into treatments.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/20745
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