AUSTIN — A federal appeals court on Tuesday evening declined Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s request for permission to immediately start enforcing a key piece of the state’s tough new abortion law, instead scheduling a hearing about the issue for next Friday in New Orleans.

The move almost certainly means that a federal judge’s decision declaring the provision unconstitutional will remain in effect at least through next week, saving most abortion facilities in the state from planned closures.

The provision, which requires abortion facilities to comply with the standards of hospital-style surgical centers, was scheduled to take effect Monday and would have forced all but seven facilities to close. Yeakel blocked its implementation last Friday, saying it would so difficult for providers to comply with the law that it would reduce access enough to make it unconstitutionally difficult for Texas women to obtain the procedure.

Abbott on Sunday filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, asking for permission to enforce the law as the legal battle continues. Abbott said Yeakel had ignored binding in his decision.

But a three-page order from the appeals court criticized Abbott, saying he “waited until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday August 31 to file the stay motion; a corrected version was sent at 12:08 a.m. on Monday September 1. This did not allow time for a response, or for the court adequately to consider the motion, before the scheduled effective date, though the appellants claim irreparable harm from the statute’s not being enforced. Moreover, the tardy motion was well in excess of the number of pages that are allowed.”

The order set arguments on the motion for 10 a.m. next Friday.

Fifth Circuit’s ruling