Warawa to drop bid for vote on sex-selective abortion?

It looks like Conservative backbench MP Mark Warawa may be about to abandon his efforts to have the House of Commons condemn the practice of sex-selective abortion.

Under the House rules, if Warawa decides not to appeal the decision to rule his original motion non-votable, he can swap it out for another item of private members' business without losing his spot on the precedent list -- provided that he does so within five sitting days after the tabling of the committee report -- in this case, by end of day Thursday.

Earlier today, Warawa quietly gave notice that he intends to bring forward a bill to impose additional restrictions on offenders.

Given his comments to reporters earlier today, not to mention the rapidly approaching deadline, it would seem that the Commons' most unlikely backbench mutineer may have concluded that, all things being equal, he'd rather back a bill that will sail through the House with full government support than earn the lasting enmity of the powers that be at PMO while merely delaying an inevitable defeat.

In any case, we'll find out for sure tomorrow, so stay tuned.

It's worth noting that dropping the motion would have no effect on his point of privilege, which is still very much alive -- and, considering the number of interventions thus far, almost certainly at the top of the speaker's priority list.