Over a thousand New Yorkers joined pro-choice activist groups and elected officials at Foley Square on May 21, 2019 to take part in a national day of action and across the country for abortion rights at the NYC Stop the Bans Rally.

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a new rule, not yet in effect, that allowed health care providers to refuse participation in abortions and other services on moral or religious grounds.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in New York said he was tossing out the rule in its entirety.

The decision came after 19 states, the District of Columbia, three local governments, health organizations and others sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The rule let clinicians object to providing abortions and other services that conflict with their moral and religious beliefs.

Engelmayer said his ruling came in three consolidated lawsuits.

Health and Human Services and the Justice Department are reviewing the ruling but "will not comment on the pending litigation at this time," said Caitlin Oakley, a Health and Human Services spokeswoman.

Plaintiffs had argued that the rule was unconstitutional because it would be discriminatory and stall access to health care for populations nationwide.

"The court heard clear and compelling arguments about the harm communities face when our health care system is distorted to the point in which a patient's health care needs are not paramount," said Clare Coleman, president of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, one of the plaintiffs.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state sued in part because the rule "was an unlawful attempt to allow health care providers to openly discriminate and refuse to provide necessary health care to patients based on providers' 'religious beliefs or moral objections.'"

The rule emerged after President Donald Trump in May 2017 signed an executive order instructing the attorney general to issue guidance interpreting religious liberty protections in federal law.