Two of three northern B.C. Members of Parliament voted in favour of a pro-life private member's motion that ultimately went down to defeat in the House of Commons this week.
Conservative MPs Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River) and Dick Harris (Cariboo-Prince George) both voted in favour of the motion while NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) voted against.
Defeated by a 203-91 count on Wednesday, the motion called for the appointment of a 12-member committee to study the definition of human being. The Criminal Code currently considers a child a human being when it emerges alive from the mother's womb.
Zimmer said he voted in favour because he's a "pro-life person" but also because a large number of his constituents also supported the motion. He said the idea would have been to come up with a definition more in line with the rest of the developed world.
"Even China has a more advanced definition of that than we do," Zimmer said. "We fall in line with North Korea."
Cullen said he voted against because he's pro-choice and so are the majority of his constituents. Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been reluctant to reopen the abortion debate, Cullen predicted further attempts will be made after 10 cabinet ministers also voted in favour.
"They will have another bill, they think they have the momentum," Cullen said.
Harris said his office received an overwhelming number of letters and e-mails urging him to vote in support, "and I thought it was a pretty decent motion."
He was not surprised at the outcome given that the NDP and most Liberals said in advance they would vote against.
