SOUTH BEND — The Indiana State Health Department will challenge a judge’s decision allowing an abortion clinic to open here, leaving the clinic’s fate undecided possibly for months.

The health department confirmed Tuesday that it intends to appeal a “recommended order” made by last month by Clare Deitchman, an Indianapolis administrative law judge.

That order was in favor of Texas-based Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, which had appealed the health department’s rejection of its license application. It came after the judge presided over a two-day hearing in August.

The fate of the license application will now be decided by a three-member panel appointed by the health department. The panel will include an administrative law judge and two state health board members. A date for the panel’s hearing in Indianapolis hasn’t been set.

The nonprofit plans to open its clinic at 3530 Lincoln Way W. and offer medication-induced abortions to women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant.

The health department declined to answer questions about the move, and it “will have no further comment” as the process continues, said spokeswoman Jeni O’Malley.

In a prepared statement, Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and president of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, said the appeal from the health department is “disappointing, but it wasn’t a surprise.”

“It’s been very clear throughout this process that abortion care is held to a different standard than other health care providers in Indiana,” she said.

She added that “roadblocks” encountered by the group “are not based in health and safety and were designed to block women and families in South Bend from accessing quality abortion care. These attacks will not stop us.”

The nonprofit’s appeal, which was filed in January, challenged the department’s conclusion that it failed to meet requirements of having “reputable and responsible character” and that it “failed to disclose, concealed, or omitted information related to additional clinics.”

Deitchman’s order states the “burden of proof” was on the department to show that the license rejection was appropriate. But she states that “no evidence was provided during the proceeding” to show the license application was “incomplete or inaccurate.”