The Indiana Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state’s abortion ban doesn’t violate the state constitution, removing a major hurdle to enforcing the ban Republicans approved last summer ahead of a wave of restrictions by conservative states in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

       The court’s decision, which does not put the ban immediately into effect, invalidates a county judge’s ruling that the ban likely violated the state constitution’s privacy protections, which she said are stronger than those found in the U.S. Constitution. That judge’s order has allowed abortions to continue in Indiana since September, despite the ban.

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       Three of the court’s five justices agreed that while Indiana’s constitution provides some protection of abortion rights, the “General Assembly otherwise retains broad legislative discretion for determining whether and the extent to which to prohibit abortions.”