The U.S. Senate has voted 52-48 to pass a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood as part of an amendment to repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's centrepiece health programme.

The vote was made on Thursday, less than a week after the attack at the abortion provider's clinic in Colorado, the International Business Times reported.

However, the bill, called Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015, is highly unlikely to become a law as Obama is expected to veto the measure.

The Republicans in the Senate do not have the two-thirds vote to override the president's veto.

The bill aims to eliminate fines for individuals who fail to purchase health insurance as mandated and employers with more than 50 workers who must provide health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

It would also remove subsidies for low-income Americans and block the expansion of Medicaid.

While the bill is not expected to become a law, Sen. Richard Shelby told NPR before the vote that "the value is to let him know — the president — and others that there's a big division in this country, and a lot of us don't like it, and the American people don't like it."

"It seems implausible that less than a week after a tragic shooting at the Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado Springs some in Washington chose politics over compassion," said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, according to NBC News.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Obama "can't be shielded by the weighty decision he'll finally have to make when this measure lands right on his desk."

Last week, three people at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado were shot dead by a gunman who expressed repugnance at the clinic's abortion practices. However, this did not deter the Republicans from pushing to defund the nation's biggest abortion service provider.

"Individuals who speak out for the life of children shouldn't suddenly be silenced by being screamed down because an insane person does a shooting in a clinic," said Republican Sen. James Lankford.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said, "So the fact that we blow off a day, two or three in the closing hours of this session for this political posturing, which is doomed to a presidential veto, is a waste of the time of the Senate."