The move was hailed as a victory by Planned Parenthood, who, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Alabama abortion providers.

“We said it from the start: this ban is blatantly unconstitutional and we will fight it every step of the way” Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, told CBS News.

Abortion provider Dr Yashica Robinson, another plaintiff in the case, told the BBC: “The abortion care we provide is essential healthcare, and these ruthless attacks from anti-abortion politicians have no place in Alabama.”

However, Alabama’s attorney general Steve Marshall said in a statement that the judge’s decision was expected. He and other state lawmakers want to advance their case to the US Supreme Court, in the hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that makes abortion legal across America.

Alabama’s near-total ban on abortion has just been blocked