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The husband of staunch anti-abortion Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) sold up to $15,000 of stock in a biotechnology company that uses human embryonic stem cells for medical treatments — at the same time she and her husband are suing the government over the use of stem cells in developing COVID-19 vaccines, according to a Raw Story analysis of federal financial records.

Luna reported the Jan. 2 sale of stock in Lineage Cell Therapeutics, valued between $1,001 and $15,000, according to a Jan. 29 financial disclosure report.

In June, Raw Story first reported on her husband’s ownership of the stock in the California-based company that uses “specialized, terminally-differentiated human cells,” to treat traumatic injuries, degenerative diseases and cancers, according to its website.

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Concurrently, Luna and her husband, Andrew Gamberzky, are alleging in a lawsuit that the government violated their religious beliefs by requiring military members to get COVID-19 vaccines, some of which were developed using fetal cell lines.

Luna’s congressional office did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Luna spokeswoman Edie Heipel previously toldRaw Story that Luna’s anti-abortion stances are “blatantly clear" and that the congresswoman “has no and has never had affiliation" with Lineage Cell Therapeutics "to include owning stock." Heipel did not respond to several follow-up questions, including why Luna's husband purchased Lineage Cell Therapeutics stock, what she thinks of her husband's stock holding and whether he planned to sell it.

“Hypocrisy is the name of the game for Anna Paulina Luna,” said Lauryn Fanguen, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in response to Raw Story’s investigation last month. Time and time again she says one thing and does another, lining her own pockets along the way. It’s hardly shocking how quickly Luna’s supposed deeply-held moral beliefs fall away when there’s a profit to be made.”

The lawsuit against the government

Luna and Gamberzky are suing the National Guard Bureau, Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force and Oregon Department of Military. They allege “significant financial injury” upon Gamberzky’s resignation from the Oregon Air National Guard over his objection to getting the COVID-19 vaccine “based on his sincerely held religious beliefs,” the lawsuit said.

“Plaintiff is unable to receive any of the COVID-19 vaccines due to what they believe and understand is a connection between these vaccines and their testing, development, or production using fetal cell lines,” Raw Story reported from the lawsuit.

RELATED ARTICLE: Florida congresswoman sued the Pentagon over stem cells. One problem: her husband's stocks

The lawsuit continued: “Plaintiffs hold the sincere religious belief that they must not take anything into their bodies that God has forbidden or that would alter their body functions, such as by inducing the production of a spike protein in a manner not designed by God.”

According to UCLA Health, “The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain aborted fetal cells. However, Johnson & Johnson did use fetal cell lines — not fetal tissue — when developing and producing their vaccine, while Pfizer and Moderna used fetal cell lines to test their vaccines and make sure that they work.”

The National Academy of Sciences states that “cell lines are established by culturing fetal cells in such a way that they continue growing and multiplying in laboratory dishes.”

Luna’s pro-life and anti-stem cell stance

Luna called the use of stem cells for research “morally wrong” and “no better than the Nazis” in terms of human testing, Raw Story reported.

Back in 2019, Luna wrote on Facebook that pro-choice and “pro-woman arguments” are “b-------,” and “abortion was never intended for women’s rights,” but rather “born in eugenics.”

Since taking office in 2023, Luna has co-sponsored numerous bills seeking to limit abortion rights, and she showed what she called “horrific” images of “late-term abortion” at a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing in March.
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