Judge halts Texas law requiring burial or cremation of fetal tissue

A federal judge on Monday placed a temporary halt on a Texas law requiring abortion providers to dispose of aborted fetal tissue through burial or cremation, saying the state has not shown how the measure has a public health purpose.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra in Texas also said the law approved last year by the Republican-controlled legislature may violate constitutional due-process provisions and appeared to be unconstitutionally vague.

"No health and safety purpose has been articulated despite (the regulation's) presence in the Texas Health and Safety Code," Ezra wrote, adding the halt was to remain in place until a decision from a forthcoming federal bench trial.

Abortion rights providers have said the regulation would require the tissue to be treated differently than other human tissue, add another stigma to abortion and increase costs.

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said the law on fetal remains was meant to honor the dignity of the unborn and his office will battle in court to have the requirements enacted.

"My office will continue to fight to uphold the constitutionality of the new law, which simply prevents fetal remains from being treated as medical waste," Paxton said in a statement.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott in June 2017 signed into law new abortion restrictions that included the requirements on fetal tissue disposal as well as a ban on the most common method of second-trimester abortions.

In November, a different federal judge in Texas struck down the ban on the second-trimester abortion procedure, after plaintiffs argued the method was safe, legal and necessary for women's health.

Texas is the most populous Republican-controlled state. Its abortion restrictions have often been fiercely defended by the state's lawyers and copied by other socially conservative states.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Richard Chang)