The NSW lower house voted 46 to 44 yesterday in favour of the same-sex adoption bill.

It was passed after two days of debate in the Legislative Assembly and will go to the upper house for another debate and vote.

MPs were allowed a conscience vote on the bill, which Sydney MP Clover Moore introduced.

Ms Moore included an amendment that gives church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to gay couples without breaching anti-discrimination laws.

Premier Kristina Keneally and Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell supported the bill.

Labor’s Robert Coombs (Swansea), Jodi McKay (Newcastle), Matthew Morris (Charlestown), Sonia Hornery (Wallsend), Kerry Hickey (Cessnock) and Frank Terenzini (Maitland) voted for the bill.

Independent Greg Piper (Lake Macquarie) supported it, but Liberal Craig Baumann (Port Stephens) and National George Souris (Upper Hunter) voted against it.

Mr Coombs said he believed in an ‘‘egalitarian and equal society and I think this is an extension of that’’.

‘‘There is not one shred of evidence to say a child is in any way disadvantaged having a gay couple as their parents,’’ Mr Coombs said.

Mr Terenzini said his vote was ‘‘practical and pragmatic’’, despite invoking religion.

‘‘I’m a person of faith and Jesus was a person of goodwill, love and acceptance,’’ Mr Terenzini said.

Mr Baumann said many people had contacted his office to oppose the bill.

‘‘There is a 10-year waiting list for childless couples to adopt and I really can’t see for the life of me why you’d increase the demand on a limited supply, but I hate to say it that way,’’ Mr Baumann said.

Mr Morris said the law was odd because an individual could adopt, but that same individual could not adopt together with a same-sex partner.

There were only 155 adoptions in NSW last year, he said.

Mr Piper said the bill was ‘‘inherently sensible’’.

‘‘Those rallying against it are denying the passage of time,’’ Mr Piper said.

Many religious organisations were against the bill, with 200 people protesting against it at a NSW Council of Churches public meeting in Parliament on Tuesday.

Christian Democratic Party leader the Reverend Fred Nile told the meeting the bill could deter women thinking of adopting out their child and ‘‘lead to the tragedy of abortion’’.