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Judge temporarily blocks Tennessee surgical center abortion law

The law signed in May by Republican Governor Bill Haslam applies to all clinics that perform 50 abortions or more annually and was due to take effect on July 1. A company that operates abortion clinics in Nashville and Bristol filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the requirements and asked U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Sharp to block the law from taking effect, saying it was impossible to meet the deadline for licensing. The state health department did not make applications available until June 16, will not issue a license to a clinic until it has a full set of architectural plans to review, and requires a clinic to pass a site inspection scheduled with up to 45 days of advanced notice, Sharp’s order said.