Associated Press - April 23, 2009 2:55 PM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Brad Henry is thanking state Senators who helped defeat an effort to override his veto of a bill banning embryonic stem cell research in the state.

The House voted this morning 68-26 to override the veto with 68 votes needed. The Senate then voted 26-19 to override but 32 votes are needed so the veto was sustained.

Henry says he vetoed the bill because it would prohibit potentially life-saving research and was mischaracterized as something that was needed to protect human life.

The research uses unused embryonic stem cells called blastocysts that were created to help couples have children.

Because in vitro fertilization procedures often create multiple blastocysts for a single couple many are unused and ultimately destroyed and discarded.

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