A panel of judges at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, issued the ruling three days after Judge Lee Yeakel of United States District Court here said one provision served no medical purpose.
The panel said the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital could take effect on Friday while a lawsuit moved forward. The panel left in place a portion of Judge Yeakel's order that prevents the state from enforcing the federal Food and Drug Administration protocol for abortion-inducing drugs in cases where the woman is 50 to 63 days into her pregnancy. Doctors testifying before the court had said such women would be harmed if the protocol were enforced.
The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, had made an emergency appeal to the conservative-leaning Fifth Circuit, arguing that the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges was a constitutional use of the Legislature's authority.
Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers had argued that the regulations did not protect women and would shut down a third of the abortion clinics in Texas.
The court's order is temporary until it can hold a complete hearing, probably in January. The restrictions are among the toughest in the nation and gained notice when State Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat, undertook a nearly 13-hour filibuster against them in June. Ms. Davis is now running for governor, with abortion rights as one of her planks.
The law also bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and beginning in October 2014 requires doctors to perform all abortions in surgical facilities.
During the trial, officials for one chain of abortion clinics testified that they had tried to obtain admitting privileges for their doctors at 32 hospitals, but that so far only 15 had accepted applications and none had announced a decision.
Many hospitals with religious affiliations will not allow doctors who perform abortions to work there, while others fear protests if they provide privileges. Many have requirements that doctors live within a certain radius of the facility, or perform a minimum number of surgeries a year in a hospital.
Gov. Rick Perry, who has said he hopes to make abortion "a thing of the past," signed the legislation in July.
