World | Fri Mar 25, 2016 5:47pm EDT

Federal judge blocks section of Alabama abortion law

A federal judge on Friday struck down an Alabama law that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

The ruling comes amid a wave of new abortion laws in states where conservatives are aiming to chip away at the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in Alabama issued the 53-page ruling, saying the provision in the state's so-called Women's Health and Safety Act would effectively close the only abortion clinics in Alabama's three largest cities: Montgomery, Mobile and Birmingham.

"The staff-privileges requirement would make it impossible for a woman to obtain an abortion in much of the state," Thompson wrote. "It is certain that thousands of women per year - approximately 40 percent of those seeking abortions in the state - would be unduly burdened."

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