Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Senate on Thursday night rejected an amendment from a pro-life senator that would have provided conscience protection on abortion for doctors and medical centers. The amendment comes at a time when President Barack Obama is considering overturning further protections.

Sen Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, sponsored an amendment to the Senate budget bill that would protect the right of conscience for health care workers.

His budget amendment was to "protect the freedom of conscience for patients and the right of health care providers to serve patients without violating their moral and religious convictions."

However, the Senate rejected the conscience amendment on a 56-41 vote with most of the chamber's Democrats voting against it along with a handful of pro-abortion Republicans.

Three Democrats joined most of the Senate Republicans in voting for the Coburn amendment.

Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for National Right to Life, talked with LifeNews.com about the vote afterwards. He says the pro-life community needs to be prepared for even bigger battles in the Senate.

"This Senate vote has no direct legal effect, but it is one more signal that the coming Democratic 'health care reform' bill will be loaded with provisions that assault basic pro-life principles, so the pro-life movement better be prepared for a big fight," he explained.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life women's group, told LifeNews.com before the vote that the amendment was worthy of support.

"This amendment is crucial in our fight to protect doctors and nurses around the country from being discriminated against for refusing to participate in abortions and other medical procedures that violate their conscience," she said.

The amendment comes at a time when Obama is considering rescinding the Provider Conscience Clause that further protects the rights of health workers.

President Bush put the provision into place to provide more enforcement for the three federal laws that make it so medical professionals and facilities are not required to do abortions.

However, President Obama has proposed overturning those conscience protections and will likely do so after a 30-day public comment window expires on April 9.

Despite federal laws protecting health care workers from having to participate in abortions, Dannenfelser says she knows of examples of that happening.

"Sadly we have already seen cases of discrimination. For example in 2008 a nurse was forced to leave two different hospitals because she refused to sign a form pledging to assist in abortions," she said.

ACTION: Contact your two U.S. senators and respond to their vote on the Coburn amendment. Call 202-224-3121 to connect with any senator's office or visit http://www.Senate.gov

Vote by Home State on the Coburn Amendment
A yes vote is pro-life and a no vote is pro-abortion

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Yea	Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Nay	Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Yea	McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:	Lincoln (D-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Nay	Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Nay	Udall (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Dodd (D-CT), Nay	Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Nay	Kaufman (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Martinez (R-FL), Yea	Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Yea	Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Nay	Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Yea	Risch (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:	Burris (D-IL), Nay	Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Indiana:	Bayh (D-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Yea	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Brownback (R-KS), Yea	Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:	Bunning (R-KY), Yea	McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay	Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Nay	Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:	Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting	Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Yea	Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:	Bond (R-MO), Yea	McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Yea	Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada:	Ensign (R-NV), Yea	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Gregg (R-NH), Yea	Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay	Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Udall (D-NM), Nay
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Yea	Hagan (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Nay	Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Yea	Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Nay	Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Yea	Specter (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Nay	Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Yea	Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Nay	Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Yea	Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Yea	Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:	Bennett (R-UT), Yea	Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Nay	Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Nay	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Nay	Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:	Byrd (D-WV), Not Voting	Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:	Feingold (D-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Yea	Enzi (R-WY), Yea

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