By TOM DAVIES

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court has issued an order that prevents the state from enforcing a Republican-backed abortion ban while it considers whether it violates the state constitution.

The court said in Wednesday's order that it was taking over appeals of a judge's decision last month that blocked the law a week after it took effect.

It denied a request from the state attorney general's office to set aside the preliminary injunction, setting a hearing on the lawsuit filed by abortion clinic operators for Jan. 12.

Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon blocked the law from being enforced, writing that "there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution."