US: Federal judge suspends Texas abortion law

Austin, Oct 07: A US federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing a controversial law that bans most abortions in the state.

The Republican-backed law, which went into effect on September 1, imposes a near-total ban on abortions in Texas, making it the toughest such law in the United States.

"This Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right," said US District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin.

The Texas law known as Senate Bill 8, had withstood early legal challenges, and was allowed to go into effect by the US Supreme Court.

It prohibits women from obtaining an abortion as soon as an embryo's heartbeat is detectable. This is usually after six weeks of pregnancy, at which point many women are unaware they are pregnant.

Source: DW