MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama says in a legal filing that U.S. Supreme Court precedent "regrettably requires" a federal judge to block the state's near-total ban on abortions from taking effect while a challenge plays out in the courts.

  

Attorney General Steve Marshall's office filed that response Monday after abortion clinics asked a judge for a preliminary injunction against the law, which would make performing an abortion a felony in almost all cases. One of the nation's most stringent abortion laws, the ban is to take effect in November unless blocked by the courts.

  

Emboldened by new conservatives on the nation's highest court, Alabama is among conservative states mounting legal challenges to abortion rights. Alabama has acknowledged its abortion ban conflicts with Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.