An Anchorage judge is preventing the state of Alaska from instituting new rules defining a medically necessary abortion until a trial is held.
Judge John Suddock on Friday extended until at least late April a restraining order barring enforcement of the new regulations, which seek to further define under what circumstances the state will pay for abortions under Medicaid.
Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest filed a lawsuit last month seeking to have the new rules struck down as unconstitutional.
The lawsuit alleges the regulations violate the rights to equal protection, privacy and health and are also a violation of the administrative procedure act.