In a Monday ruling, a federal judge in Cincinnati temporarily blocked the passage of a state law that would have defunded 28 Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio, according to Reuters.
U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett granted a two-week stay stopping the diversion of federal funding on a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Southwest Ohio on May 11.
The Ohio law signed by Gov. John Kasich (R) in February cut $1.3 million in federal taxpayer funds from any healthcare organization that provides abortion services. The law would have gone into effect May 23.
The halted legislation would have affected funding for a variety of services Planned Parenthood offers, such as programs for mothers' and infants' health, HIV counseling and testing and sex education. The organization offers abortions in some of its Ohio clinics, but not all of them, according to the report.
In a 20-page opinion, Judge Barrett said the law was raised to make it difficult for women to obtain an abortion and said that Planned Parenthood has showed it could successfully win its legal action, according to Reuters.
If the law came into effect, Planned Parenthood would be "forced to end healthcare and education programs and terminate employees, depriving thousands of Ohioans of high-quality, affordable healthcare services and education programs," Judge Barrett wrote, according to the report.
Ohio already has a law in place that bans the use of state funding for abortions.