Judge rejects moral-objection rule for abortion providers

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 21, 2019 file photo, August Mulvihill, of Norwalk, Iowa, center, holds a sign depicting a wire clothes hanger during a rally at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest recent abortion bans. On Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019, a federal judge in New York struck down a rule letting health care clinicians object to providing abortions and other services on moral or religious grounds. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a new rule, not yet in effect, that allowed health care clinicians to refuse participation in abortions and other services on moral or religious grounds.