Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina's new abortion law; 12-week near-ban remains in place

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued an order on Saturday halting enforcement of a provision to require surgical abortions that occur after early pregnancy.

And in the same preliminary injunction, Eagles extended beyond her temporary decision in June an order preventing enforcement of a rule that doctors must document the existence of a pregnancy within the uterus before prescribing a medication abortion.

Short of successful appeals by Republican legislative leaders defending the laws, the order will remain in effect until a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and a physician who performs abortions challenging the sections are resolved. The lawsuit also seeks to have clarified whether medications can be used during the second trimester to induce labor of a fetus that can’t survive outside the uterus.