Last Updated: Tuesday - 01/04/2011

CWL studies reproductive issues

CALGARY — Canada's 104,000 members of the Catholic Women's League have been encouraged to speak out on federal government proposals to govern new reproductive technologies.

Sister Mary Lou Cranston, director of the St. Joseph's College Ethics Centre in Edmonton, urged CWL members to educate themselves about the complex subject so that every member can speak out now.

In addition, Cranston urged Catholic women to educate themselves so that they are in a better position to help Catholics and others make informed ethical decisions in the years to come.

"I really believe the more people who speak up the better," she said. "I think this is worth speaking up about."

At the national CWL convention, Cranston outlined the federal discussion paper released in early May.

Under discussion in the paper is a wide range of activities covering everything from human cloning to the creation of human embryos for research purposes.

The document proposes banning several activities to ensure that human reproduction is not overly commercialized.

The federal government is accepting submissions concerning its proposals till the end of the year, she said.

In response, the CWL unanimously passed two motions:

• Endorsing a long list of prohibited activities, with one significant change. While the federal paper calls for a prohibition of the development of an embryo outside a woman's body beyond "the accepted 14-day limit," the CWL called for the complete prohibition of the development of an embryo outside a woman's body.
• Urging the CWL at both the provincial and diocesan level to provide the necessary education — workshops, speakers, literature - so that league members can become informed about the contents of the proposed legislation in order to write letters and make submissions to the federal government.

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