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A bill that would ban abortions in D.C. after 20 weeks fell short in the House of Representatives yesterday, failing to attract the necessary two-thirds majority for passage. The vote was 220-154, largely along party lines.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) in January, and made its way through the House over the last six months. While pro-life advocates placed the measure atop their legislative agenda—going so far as to sink a D.C. budget autonomy bill because of a related abortion provision—opponents called it an attack on Home Rule. The bill would have only applied to D.C.; Franks denied D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton the opportunity to speak in opposition at a committee hearing in May.

That the bill failed seems to be largely besides the point, though. Both pro-life and pro-choice groups scored the vote, and the National Right to Life Committee has said that they will use the D.C. bill as a test case for similar efforts in state legislatures. Pro-life groups insist that abortions after 20 weeks should be banned, because it is at that point that a fetus can feel pain.

For Norton, though, there was a silver-lining to the vote. “The bill has had the effect House Republicans most dreaded. It has reinvigorated the pro-choice movement in our country, raising the consciousness of American women again to understand that their right to reproductive choice is always on the line,” she said in a statement.