MADISON, Wis., July 9 (UPI) -- A federal judge who found no medical need for doctors at abortion clinics to have hospital privileges blocked Wisconsin from enforcing the law for 10 days.
U.S. District Judge William M. Conley scheduled a hearing on the provision in the state's new abortion law for July 17, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
"There will almost certainly be irreparable harm to those women who will be foreclosed from having an abortion in the next week either because of the undue burden of travel or the late stage of pregnancy, as well as facing increasing health risks caused by delay," the judge wrote.
"Since the state has failed to date to demonstrate any benefit to maternal health of imposing this restriction, there is no meaningful counterweight recognized by the United States Supreme Court to justify the act's immediate enforcement."
The law also requires women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds before the procedure. Conley's ruling does not affect that provision.
Abortion clinics filed a legal challenge to the law Friday, the day Gov. Scott Walker signed it.
