Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean says his constituents want to see the legislation surrounding abortion re-examined.

Jean was among 87 Tory caucus members to vote in favour of re-opening the debate around a fetus rights to life, in Ottawa last night.

And although the controversial motion failed, Jean says seeing the legislation surrounding the termination pregnancies strengthened, is what he and his constituents want.

"There's no legislation regarding this issue at all; we're at exactly the same place as North Korea, China and Vietnam, so the four countries in the world with the same type of legislation are Canada, North Korea, Vietnam and China," Jean said.

"Does that give pause for a thought to anyone? It certainly gave pause for my thoughts. No democracy in the world has the same vacuum of legislation as we have in Canada. My understanding is every democracy in the world is more restricted," said Jean.

Although Jean admits he opposed to the current legalization of abortion, he says a recent telephone poll of 2,500 residents revealed the majority were dissatisfied with the current regulations. 

"I do think at this stage, people that have an opportunity to see what the current state of the law is, and have an opportunity to see the scientific evidence," Jean said, "I think most reasonable people, if not 99 per cent of them, would come to the same conclusion that I have, relating about this particular issue. That being said, if they don't that's their prerogative."

The private member's bill was defeated 203 to 91, however Jean says the current code surrounding the procedure is on par with North Korea's human rights abuses.   

"I was a criminal lawyer; With people that were involved in situations like this, I was mortified from time to time at things that I saw in the law," Jean said. "This is one of the situations that I found that left a very, very bad taste in my mouth. Serious psychological ramifications from this law have happened for victims across this country in the past and I think there is room for an intellectual debate on the issue."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper voted against the motion, with a handful of ministers following suit.

Among those pushing for a legislative change, the Minister charged with advancing the Status of Women, Rona Ambrose.