SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A federal judge in San Francisco joined two other U.S. district courts Thursday to block enforcement of a historic abortion bill, Fox News reported.
The California judge's ruling affects doctors who work at 900 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, and -- with similar rulings in Nebraska and New York -- means that most abortion providers in the United States, at least for the time being, will not be subject to the new law, which bans a controversial abortion procedure sometimes called partial birth abortion.
In New York City, U.S. District Judge Richard Casey granted a request earlier Thursday by the National Abortion Federation and seven doctors to block enforcement of the ban.
That decision followed a separate but similar ruling Wednesday in a Nebraska federal court that was issued within hours of President Bush signing the bill.
