The 91

Last night in the House of Commons, a miracle happened: sensibility and intelligence won. 

The vote on Motion 312 occurred on the floor of the House yesterday evening and was defeated by a count of 203 to 91. That's a pretty wide margin, but for a vote that could have had permanent and regressive implications for abortion rights in this country, the margin is maybe too close for a lot of progressives in this country. To them, in Canada, where abortion rights have been largely secured for nearly a quarter of a century since the Morgentaler decision, this move is as striking and daring as the decision of politicians in Virginia demanding evasive medical procedures by law for women seeking abortion. 

Now this is not the first time that a motion such as 312 has come to the floor of the House in the last 24 years, but with a Conservative majority in Parliament, the vote does do a lot of people scared of a hard right turn in politics and public policy. There are numerous social conservatives in the Conservative caucus, including the Prime Minister, but Stephen Harper is too shrewd a politician to push this part of the agenda. Allowing Motion 312 to proceed was purely political, but one was to wonder - 91 votes in favour, nearly a third of the House - if there isn't some cause to be concerned for the future, and for the future of women's right to their own bodies. 

So here, via Huffington Post, is the list of the 91 politician. They aren't all Conservatives, and they aren't all crusty, old white men. In all, 14 MPs sat out the vote. 

• Diane Ablonczy
• Harold Albrecht
• Mike Allen
• Dean Allison
• Stella Ambler
• Rona Ambrose
• Rob Anders
• David Anderson
• Leon Benoit
• Candice Bergen
• James Bezan
• Kelly Block
• Ray Boughen
• Garry Breitkreuz
• Patrick Brown
• Gord Brown
• Lois Brown
• Rod Bruinooge
• Blaine Calkins
• Ron Cannan
• Colin Carrie
• Michael Chong
• Rob Clarke
• Patricia Davidson
• Dean Del Mastro
• Barry Devolin
• Earl Dreeshen
• Julian Fantino
• Ed Fast
• Royal Galipeau
• Cheryl Gallant
• Peter Goldring
• Nina Grewal
• Dick Harris
• Laurie Hawn
• Bryan Hayes
• Russ Hiebert
• Jim Hillyer
• Roxanne James
• Brian Jean
• Randy Kamp
• Jim Karygiannis (Lib)
• Jason Kenney
• Ed Komarnicki
• Mike Lake
• Kevin Lamoureux (Lib)
• Guy Lauzon
• Pierre Lemieux
• Wladyslaw Lizon
• Ben Lobb
• Tom Lukiwski
• James Lunney
• Lawrence MacAulay (Lib)
• Colin Mayes
• Phil McColeman
• John McKay (Lib)
• Rob Merrifield
• Larry Miller
• Rob Moore
• Rick Norlock
• Tilly O'Neill Gordon
• Ted Opitz
• Lavar Payne
• Peter Penashue
• Pierre Poilievre
• James Rajotte
• Brent Rathgeber
• Gerry Ritz
• Kyle Seeback
• Gail Shea
• Bev Shipley
• Kevin Sorenson
• Brian Storseth
• Mark Strahl
• Davis Sweet
• Lawrence Toet
• Brad Trost
• Merv Tweed
• Dave Van Kesteren
• Peter Van Loan
• Maurice Vellacott
• Mark Warawa
• Chris Warkentin
• Jeff Watson
• Rodney Weston
• John Weston
• John Williamson
• Alice Wong
• Stephen Woodworth
• Terence Young
• Bob Zimmer