No new abortion law: Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he opposes any new abortion law for Canada and will vote against anyof his backbenchers' attempts to bring insuch legislation.

When askedFridayabout Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge's abortion bill, Harper said he normally doesn't comment on private member's legislation, but said he does not wantadebate in Parliament over the issue.

"My position is quite clear: I will oppose any attempt to create a new abortion law," he told reporters in Niagara Falls.

Harper's Conservative government has faced intense criticism at home and abroad for its decision torefuse funding forabortions in its G8 child and maternal health-care initiative for developing countries. The prime ministerand hiscabinet have repeatedlyinsisted the decision doesn't translate into re-opening the abortion debate.

Butwhen asked Friday whether he would designate a vote on any private member's bill on abortion as whipped, meaning MPs in his caucusmust vote the party line or face consequences, Harper did not answer and moved on to another question.

In April, Bruinooge,who headsthe self-declared "pro-life caucus" of MPs in the House ofCommons, introduced a private member's billdesigned to protect vulnerable women from "abortion abuse."

The billwould penalize anyone who "coerces" a woman into ending her pregnancy against her will.