Story highlights Ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure overturned

Texas attorney general says he will appeal federal judge's ruling

(CNN) A federal judge has struck down Texas' ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Lee Yeakel overturned Texas Senate Bill 8 -- which was passed earlier this year and banned doctors from performing dilation and evacuation abortions.

"That a woman may make the decision to have an abortion before a fetus may survive outside her womb is solely and exclusively the woman's decision. The power to make this decision is her right," Yeakel wrote.

In a D&E abortion, a doctor dilates the patient's cervix before dismembering and removing the fetus. Senate Bill 8 banned doctors from performing such abortions unless they first stopped a fetus' heart using another method.

A number of abortion providers and women's health groups, including Planned Parenthood and Whole Woman's Health, challenged the law. Banning the procedure -- the most common type of abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy -- means women must seek riskier alternatives, they argued.