Texas Old Federal Court (Fables98/Creative Commons)

Judge Lee Yeakel ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers who had argued that requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of abortion clinics would result in a third of Texas clinics closing, limiting women's access to safe abortions.

READ MORE: New Abortion Bill Receives Mixed Reactions

In his 26-page decision, Judge Lee Yeakel wrote that the admitting privileges statute "does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the State in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman's health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus and is thus an undue burden to her. The court concludes that admitting privileges have no rational relationship to improved patient care.”

The ruling also blocks new restrictions on pregnancy-ending drugs.

The laws came under national scrutiny after Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis completed a 13-hour filibuster to block a vote, only to see Gov. Rick Perry call for a special legislative session to pass the laws. 

Federal courts have blocked similar laws in Wisconsin, Alabama, Mississippi and North Dakota, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Read more at the Houston Chronicle

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David Tobia