An example of tabloid journalism...

...can be found right here;
Study Confirms Link Between Autism and Use of Cells From Abortions in Vaccines

I've two autistic sons, aged six and five. Being married to an RN gives me access to insights not available to most other folks with autism in their family. So I know my kids exhibited the disorder LONG before any vaccines were given. End of story.

But for one hell of a lot of people this will scare them away from vaccinating their kids. No I don't advocate the nonchalant use of vaccines obtained via aborted fetuses, no matter how long ago the strain was produced. But Catholic bioethicists who are in accord with the Magisterium have concluded the use of these vaccines are acceptable if no others are readily available. There is also a healthy amount of doubt about the extent aborted fetuses have been used for these medicines.

One of the recurring horror stories I hear is how parents refusing to properly vaccinate their children puts them at risk for disease. This doesn't just happen amongst the poor, as a matter of fact the wife observed quite a few upper middle-class children who had missed scheduled inoculations when she worked at a private practice some years back. It's reprehensible to place a child, especially an infant, at risk.

IMO the honchos at LifeNews.com should have held off on publishing the linked story until there was absolutely no question about the link of autism to vaccines. This story is irresponsible and on a lower level than the tabloids I sighted yesterday telling me about Oprah's supposedly gay lifestyle.

Parents of autistic children spend a fair amount of time wondering what they might have done wrong. I know this not only from my own experience but also from listening to other denizens of the waiting room for the therapists my kids see.

Let me put aside the macho mask for a moment to say it straight & plain; I pray daily for the safety and wellbeing of my children. I worry constantly of how they'll cope after I die (and at 57 yrs. of age, I'll probably kick the bucket long before their mother. Maybe before they've matured to any real degree. That would be true regardless of circumstances but autism just makes it worse). My mind spends one hell of a lot of time hoping my boys will "grow out" of this condition in at least a small degree (and they're high functioning, I'd hate for them to be as bad as many I've seen lately). Autism sucks, it isn't cute and it isn't "just another cross to bear" because that cross is being borne by innocents who wander confused and scared through a world they're at a loss to comprehend.

"News" stories of this sort are irresponsible and abhorrent.

They're abhorrent because they feed directly into the guilt many parents carry at the back of their minds. The fact is NOBODY is certain as to what causes the disorder. There could be multiple factors, there could be single as-yet undiscovered cause. As I've already said, my children exhibited the symptoms of it long before they received any vaccines mentioned in the linked article. Until there is an undeniable link to this scourge the self-appointed disseminaters of vital news need to just STFU and wait like the rest of us for more reliable information.

Just my opinion. Thanks for listening.