In an evening of health care breakthroughs, the Senate voted Tuesday to reject an amendment to the health care bill that would have prohibited federal funding of health care plans that cover abortions and also announced they had reached a broad compromise on the contentious public option, according to reports.

A federal- and taxpayer-funded public option has been a major focus of reform deliberations and passed in the House of Representatives last month along with a menu of private and co-op alternatives.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the compromise would marry federal oversight with private, nonprofit funding, though he could not provide details, Reuters reported.

The proposal for the compromise, which Reuters reported was met with optimism from Senate Democrats, will next be reviewed in the Congressional Budget Office.

The abortion provision, proposed by Sen. Ben Nelson, R-Neb., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sought to prevent any health care plan receiving government money from covering abortions.

Currently, the law prohibits federal funding of abortions, but the Nelson-Hatch amendment would have prevented women from purchasing any plan that covered abortions, even if they were paying in part with their private money.

The amendment had become a litmus test for many Democrats, particularly women, who said they would not vote for a bill that included it.

The Senate voted 54-45 to table the amendment, with seven Democrats voting to keep it and two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, voting against it.

Nelson said in a statement he was disappointed with the decision.

‘Our proposal . . . was rational because it followed established federal policy,’ he said. ‘And it was right because taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay for abortions.’

Snowe said in a statement that though she has long opposed federal funding of abortions, the Nelson-Hatch amendment ‘exceeds current law.’

‘In my view, women who are subject to an individual mandate and personally contribute to the cost of their insurance should not have their choices restricted by the federal government,’ she said. ‘As a champion of women’s health, I will continue to protect coverage options and privacy for women.’

Other pro-choice legislators also celebrated the decision.

‘I am delighted the U.S. Senate has rejected an extreme amendment that would have turned back the clock on a woman’s right to choose,’ Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said in a statement. ‘The amendment the Senate rejected today was an attempt to use health care reform to restrict women’s access to reproductive health services.’

While the amendment’s defeat is likely to win back the support of some dubious Democrats, it may make it harder for the Senate to pass the bill, especially with bipartisan support.

But the public option itself may be in trouble as well.’ Soon after the decision went through, MSNBC reported Senate Democrats had said a deal was in the works to potentially remove the public option from the reform entirely.

Further details were not available at press time.