'Undue burden' - U.S. judge blocks Ohio from enforcing anti-abortion law

A federal judge on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking Ohio from enforcing a law that critics said could ban abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett said the "Heartbeat Protection Act" signed by Republican Governor Mike DeWine in April imposed an "undue burden" on a woman's constitutional right to obtain a pre-viability abortion. He said that to the extent Ohio is trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing the right to abortion, it must make its arguments in a higher court.