(Reuters) -A federal judge in Texas ruled that Democratic President Joe Biden's administration likely exceeded its authority by issuing a rule strengthening privacy protections for women seeking abortions and for patients who receive gender transition treatments.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo on Sunday agreed to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing the rule against a Texas doctor who through lawyers at a conservative Christian legal group challenged the regulation as unlawful.

The ruling by Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his first term, issued the preliminary injunction a day before a Monday deadline for the doctor, Carmen Purl and her business to comply with the rule.

"Doctors and states should be able to protect patients from abuse," said Julie Marie Blake of Alliance Defending Freedom, a lawyer for Purl. "The court rightly ruled that this unlawful rule change would have weaponized laws about privacy that have nothing to do with abortion or gender identity."

HHS declined to comment.