(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday handed a defeat to abortion clinics by delaying a legal challenge to a Texas law banning most abortions in that state.
In a 2-1 ruling, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Texas Supreme Court should address enforcement questions related to the law before the Texas clinics' challenge could resume.
The Republican-backed law bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, a time many women remain unaware they are pregnant, and is one of the country's most restrictive abortion measures.
Lawyers for the clinics had urged the 5th Circuit to let the case continue before a federal judge who had previously blocked the ban. They cited a U.S. Supreme Court order in December that allowed the lawsuit to continue against certain licensing officials even as the law took effect.
Marc Hearron, a lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights representing the clinics, told the appeals court at a Jan. 7 hearing "any further de