Judicial activism strikes again.

(AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday struck down key provision of Texas’ new law requiring a doctor to perform a sonogram before an abortion, ruling that the measure violates the free speech rights of both doctors and patients.

The law — one of dozens of anti-abortion measures that advanced through state capitals across the United States this year — was set to take effect Thursday.

A New York-based reproductive rights group had sued to block the law.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said in his ruling that requiring a doctor to show women images from the sonogram and the sounds of the fetal heartbeat violates the First Amendment rights of doctors.