A federal appeals court allowed most of Texas' new abortion restrictions to take effect immediately, lifting an injunction Thursday that had suspended much of the law.
The decision came three days after U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin blocked restrictions that he found unconstitutional, including one that requires doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and another that limits medication-induced abortions.
But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans sided with Texas officials, who had requested an emergency stay of Yeakel's injunction so the new law could take effect while a lawsuit challenging the measure moved forward....