A federal judge in Washington on Thursday granted a nationwide injunction blocking the Trump administration's new rules prohibiting federally-funded health-care providers from referring patients for abortions. The Department of Health and Human Services announced the policy earlier this year. Already, groups receiving money under the Title X program are not allowed to perform abortions with that funding. The new rules would have hit low-income Americans who use Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health services in the U.S., especially hard. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian wrote the restrictions reverse "long-standing positions of the Department without proper consideration of sound medical opinions and the economic and non-economic consequences."

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