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Anti-abortion motion fails in Canadian Parliament
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative MPs have been left seriously divided over the issue of abortion after a controversial motion was defeated in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.
By a vote of 203 to 91, MPs defeated the motion by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth instructing parliamentarians to study whether a fetus is a human being.
But in a surprise development, the vote revealed the deep split among Tory MPs over the issue. Eighty-seven of the 163 Tory MPs supported the motion.
And although Harper, whose critics had accused him of having a hidden agenda to re-criminalize abortion, had said he opposed the motion, many of his cabinet ministers did not take his cue by voting with him.
By a vote of 203 to 91, MPs defeated the motion by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth instructing parliamentarians to study whether a fetus is a human being.
But in a surprise development, the vote revealed the deep split among Tory MPs over the issue. Eighty-seven of the 163 Tory MPs supported the motion.
And although Harper, whose critics had accused him of having a hidden agenda to re-criminalize abortion, had said he opposed the motion, many of his cabinet ministers did not take his cue by voting with him.
This is good news - the defeated motion was about redefining when human life begins in murder laws in Canada's Criminal Code, and it was proposed by an (old man) Member of Parliament who admits that he believes a fertilised egg should be legally considered a person, so I'm obviously happy to see it defeated. I'm glad the Prime Minister kept his promise to vote against the motion, but he should have forced his cabinet to vote with him - he ran on a promise not to re-open the abortion debate; he should have kept his government in line on this one. I'm also really disappointer that four Liberal Party members voted in favour.
My "favourite" little nugget from this story is that the Minister for the Status of Women, the "Honourable" Rona Ambrose, voted in favour of the motion. Asshat.
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Abortion+debate+divides+federal+Tories/7306916/story.html#ixzz27fkH0QtU