The Senate voted on Thursday to kill the controversial so-called Blunt amendment which would have allowed employers to deny health care coverage based on moral grounds, said CNN.

The motion by Democrats to table the amendment succeeded by a vote of 51-48, said CNN.

The amendment, proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), was attached to a highway bill, and was a Republican effort to reverse President Obama's rule that employers and insurers should provide birth control and contraceptives, even if they are religiously affiliated. Obama later offered a compromise on the rule, but conservatives said it did not go far enough, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

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Speaking before the vote, Blunt said, "People have the same protection today to exert their religious views in their health care policies that they provide as an employer that they would have if this amendment passed. It may not change any minds today, but this issue will not go away unless the administration decides to take it away by giving people of faith these First Amendment protections,” according to ABC News.

Democrats in the Senate said the measure was too broad and would have constituted an attack on women's health. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said, "Imagine that, your boss will decide whether you're acting morally. It's appalling we're having this debate in the 21st century," according to Politico.

Politico also noted that departing Republican senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe, joined the Democrats in this vote.

A recent CBS News/New York Times poll found that 59 percent of Americans were in favor of Obama's mandate, while 34 percent opposed it.

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