WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Senate Republican bid to ban most late-term abortions. The 54-52 vote to move ahead on the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed.

On his Facebook page Wednesday, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran wrote of his displeasure with the outcome.

“I am deeply disappointed the Senate rejected legislation to protect the lives of unborn children. The vote yesterday, coupled with this chamber’s failure to deny funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider last month, sends a message to the American people – that the parts and pieces of the smallest human lives are more valuable than their lives as a whole.

We recoil when we hear of children who are harmed in any manner. Yet, the ability to terminate an unborn child’s life when it’s viable outside of the womb is not only tolerated, but passionately defended. If there was anything else claiming the lives of 10,000 children each year, all 100 of us in the Senate would be standing up demanding action to end the problem. Where is that outrage when it comes to the unborn?”

It’s the second time Senate Democrats have blocked abortion-related legislation since this summer’s release of videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing their harvesting of fetal tissue for research. They also derailed a bill in August halting federal funding for Planned Parenthood.