A federal judge blocked a portion of new law that was due to go into effect in Louisana on Monday which would have required physicians at abortion clinics to obtain admitting privileges at hospitals.

U.S. District Judge John de Gravelles issued a temporary restraining order late Sunday to block enforcement of the law according to the Associated Press.

"Plaintiffs will be allowed to operate lawfully while continuing their efforts to obtain privileges," Federal Judge John deGravelles wrote in his decision.

The law, passed by state lawmakers this year, would have required doctors at five clinics in the state to obtain admitting privileges at hospitals as much as 30 miles from the clinic or be shut down. Many clinic doctors in the South don't live in the states where they practice at the clinics, making it difficult for them to acquire admitting privileges at local hospitals.

Three clinics in the state filed a lawsuit to overturn the law claiming doctors haven't had enough time to obtain the privileges and that the law would likely lead to the closing of all five clinics in Baton Rouge, Bossier City, Metairie, New Orleans and Shreveport.

"Today's ruling ensures Louisiana women are safe from an underhanded law that seeks to strip them of their health and rights. Politicians cannot be given free rein to lie about their motives without recourse and expect women and their families to pay the consequences," said Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, one of the groups who joined the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "As the flimsy façade of these laws grows thinner by the day, we continue to look to the courts to uphold the Constitution and protect access to safe and legal abortion for all women regardless of where they happen to live."

Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, which supports the law, said the judge's order was "a setback," but a minor one. "The legal process is far from over," he said.

"The [Louisiana] judge said he will call a status conference within 30 days to check on the progress of the plaintiff's applications and to schedule a hearing to consider a request for an order blocking the law while the case in court," according to the Associated Press.

Anti-abortion activists have been pressing for legislation in several states over admitting privileges, arguing they protect women if they experience complications from an abortion.

Louisiana is among 11 states that have passed similar laws, with courts recently ruling such measures unconstitutional in Alabama and Mississippi. On Friday a Texas federal judge blocked a similar law that would have shuttered most remaining clinics in that state, as reported by Latin Post.

The legal issue being argued in many of these cases is whether these state laws have created burdensome rules that violate Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to have an abortion. That was the argument made by a Texas federal Judge on Friday who blocked a portion of that state's law over admitting privileges and qualifying for "ambulatory surgical centers."

In his 21-page ruling, Texas U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel sided with the clinics that sued over the measure, writing, "The overall effect of the provisions is to create an impermissible obstacle as applied to all women seeking a previability abortion."

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