Minister Rona Ambrose supporting M312 with her vote was a bit of a surprise to many across the country, and caused a variety of reactions ranging from outrage to applause. However, this vote was only one action in a long line that illustrates the Harper government's steady institutional disempowerment of women in Canada.

Motion 312 -- a motion put forward by a backbencher from Kitchener Waterloo asks our Canadian government to strike a parliamentary committee to "review the declaration in Subsection 223(1) of the Criminal Code which states that a child becomes a human being only at the moment of complete birth and to answer the questions hereinafter set forth..."

The questions MP Woodworth would like this committee to "answer" primarily concern medical opinion and legal precedent on when life begins and the options available to Parliament to potentially change that.