INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge has blocked a new Indiana law that would require doctors to tell women undergoing drug-induced abortions about a disputed treatment for potentially stopping the abortion process.
The ruling Wednesday came just before the so-called abortion reversal law adopted by Indiana's Republican-dominated Legislature was to take effect Thursday.
Last week, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon heard arguments into the evening in a lawsuit filed by abortion-rights groups that sought to stop the so-called "abortion reversal" law from taking effect as scheduled.
RELATED: Lawsuit filed against Indiana law requiring doctors inform women of 'abortion reversal' treatment
Dr. George Delgado, who claims to have coined the term "abortion reversal," testified that the treatment is safe and effective.
Dr. Courtney Schreiber, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Philadelphia, pushed back, calling the state's new law "deeply distressing" and "mortifyingly harmful."
Republican lawmakers pushed the bill, despite objections that it would force doctors to provide dubious information to their patients. Supporters say the requirement would ensure that a woman can halt a medication-induced abortion if she changes her mind after taking the first of the two drugs used in the procedure and takes another drug instead.
RELATED: Indiana Senate approves bill requiring doctors inform women of 'abortion reversal' treatment
Six states already have similar requirements in place, while judges have blocked such laws in three other states.
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