US judge strikes down health rule on providing abortions

Pro-life activists try to block the sign of a pro-choice activist during the 2018 March for Life in Washington, DC. Activists gathered in the nation's capital for the annual event to protest the anniversary of the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion in 1973./Getty Images

A US federal judge on Wednesday nullified a rule by the Trump administration which gave clinicians the option of declining to provide abortions on moral or religious grounds.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer made the ruling on in New York.

A petition was filed by women's groups, health organisations and several states against the Department of Health and Human Services.

The parties argued that the exemptions contravened the law.

According to the judge, his ruling came in three consolidated lawsuits. One consisted of 19 states, the District of Columbia and three local governments.

Source(s): AP