Brian Burch of CatholicVoteAction.org lamented that “the abortion industry is dancing in celebration,” as the Senate voted 54-45 to table (i.e. kill) an amendment by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) and 16 cosponsors to prohibit federal funding of abortion in the Senate version of Obamacare.

Those voting against the motion to table and, hence, for the pro-life amendment were:

Except for Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), who was absent, all of the other members of the Senate voted to table, and thereby kill, the pro-life amendment.

With the exception of Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, every other Republican voted against tabling the amendment.

With the exception of Senators Nelson, Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Edward Kaufman of Delaware, and Evan Bayh of Indiana, every other Democrat voted to table the pro-life amendment.

The defeated amendment was very similar to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which passed the House 240-194 .  In an article in the New York Times , Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) explained:

“Our amendment maintains current law, which says that there should be no federal financing for abortion…Our intent was not to change, add or take anything away from federal law. This goal is consistent with the opinion of a majority of Americans. Recent CNN and Washington Post-ABC News polls found that 61 percent of Americans do not want taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions…I encourage other members of Congress to listen to the American people.”

Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link reported that Kristen Day, Executive Director of Democrats for Life, said that, if the seven pro-life Senate Democrats oppose Obamacare without a strong pro-life amendment, the bill cannot get close to obtaining the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster against it.  She added that, in any case, a conference committee report would not pass the House unless “we have clear language that there will be no public funding of abortion.”

It remains to be seen how serious Nelson, Dorgan, Conrad, Pryor, Casey, Kaufman, and Bayh are on this critical issue.  There are some indications that Nelson and Casey may back Obamacare with its pro-abortion provisions.

Nelson told Reuters , “I think at the end of the day, we’ll have 60 votes.”

And CNSNews.com reported that Casey has made clear that he would not “draw that line in the sand,” over abortion.

And The Hill says Pryor was one of the principal leaders in bringing Democrats together to achieve a compromise on the “public option.”  Having played such a major leadership role, it is highly unlikely he would then oppose the bill.

Over in the House, it unclear whether pro-life Democrats will continue to stay resolute in the face of intense pressure within their party to pass Obamacare.