US judge temporarily blocks Texas’ near-total abortion ban in blow to contentious law

Judge excoriates unprecedented scheme' to deny women abortion right as law faces uncertain future

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the near-total ban on abortion in Texas, dealing the first legal blow against the contentious law and throwing its future into uncertainty.

The law, known as Senate Bill 8, banned most abortions in the nation's second-most populous state and, until now, had withstood a wave of early challenges.