Women in the U.S. state of Texas with complicated pregnancies will be exempted from a state abortion ban under a temporary injunction issued on Friday, with a judge citing a lack of clarity on the ban's medical exemptions.

Travis County District Court Judge Jessica Mangrum in her ruling sided with women and doctors who sued Texas over the abortion ban.

"The Court finds that there is uncertainty regarding whether the medical exception to Texas' abortion bans permits a physician to provide abortion care where, in the physician's good faith judgment and in consultation with the pregnant person, a pregnant person has a physical emergent medical condition," Mangrum said in the ruling.

However, the injunction was immediately blocked by an appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, reported The Associated Press.

"The trial court's injunction is ineffective, and the status quo remains in effect," Paige Willey, spokesperson for the state attorney general's office, was quoted as saying in an email.

Mangrum's decision said the injunction would run until the completion of the case, which is scheduled for a trial to begin next March 25.

The judge ruled that doctors cannot be prosecuted for application of "good faith judgment" for provision of abortions for physical medical conditions including: those that pose infection risk or make pregnancy unsafe, where the fetus is not likely to survive the pregnancy after birth, and where a medical condition cannot be effectively treated during pregnancy or requires "recurrent pervasive intervention."

"Today's ruling alleviates months of confusion around what conditions qualify as medical emergencies under Texas' abortion bans, giving doctors permission to use their own medical judgment in determining when abortion care is needed," the Center for Reproductive Rights, the group that brought this lawsuit, said in a statement.

Several women who said they were denied abortions despite grave risk to their lives sued the state of Texas in March, in the first apparent case of pregnant women suing over curbs imposed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Texas laws prohibit all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies, which the state laws do not define. It's a second-degree felony in Texas to perform or attempt an abortion, punishable by up to life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year stripped away national abortion rights. State legislatures are wrestling with how much to restrict or expand abortion access after that decision.

(With input from agencies)