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WASHINGTON, DC, November 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life senators joined forces Tuesday to block an appropriations bill that would have opened the door to more taxpayer funding of abortion.

According to a report from the National Right to Life Committee, the bill contained seven different pro-abortion provisions, including one funneling $40 million in taxpayer money to the controversial United Nations Population Fund and another legislatively enshrining overseas abortion funding by making it impossible for a future president to reinstate the Mexico City policy.

The bill would also have overturned the bans on public funding of abortion in the District of Columbia and coverage of abortion in health care policies for government employees.

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The “mini-bus” bill was a combination of three appropriations bills that Majority Leader Harry Reid was attempting to move forward. As a combination bill, however, it required unanimous consent to proceed in the Senate.

David Vitter, a Louisiana Senator with a strong pro-life record, prevented the pro-abortion amendments from moving forward by denying consent to the bill.

“Our greatest challenge as a nation right now is our economy, and a big part of that challenge is the fact that we have completely unsustainable federal spending and deficit and debt. And yet, Mr. President, in the midst of all that, these appropriations bill spend more money than we’re spending already, not less,” Vitter said, when he rose to object.

The NRLC reports that Vitter was joined in his objection by Senators Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee. NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson credited the Senators with “derailing the abortion express train.”

Senator Reid told The Hill that he was “terribly disappointed” at the outcome of Tuesday’s debate, and hoped that an agreement could be reached to move the bill through.