A judge dismissed a lawsuit from Planned Parenthood against the City of Lubbock, Texas, where residents voted to approve a measure that outlaws abortion in the city.
In explaining why the suit was dismissed, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix said Planned Parenthood lacked jurisdiction.
“Because plaintiffs fail to show, as they must, that they have Article III standing to sue the city, the Court dismisses the case for lack of jurisdiction,” the judge wrote on Tuesday night. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled.
Hendrix noted that Planned Parenthood alleged that the ordinance was invalid because it violated federal constitutional rights, but he said they admitted that “even if the court gave them everything they wanted, the court’s ruling would not bar private citizens from bringing the suit in state court, bind the state judiciary to its ruling, or force the ordinance’s repeal.”
Right to Life director Mark Lee Dickson hailed the court’s decision.
“We have said from the beginning that this ordinance is completely bulletproof from pre-enforcement lawsuits,” he wrote on Facebook. “The Court’s ruling today is an emphatic vindication of that.”
The ordinance, called “Sanctuary City for the Unborn,” was approved on May 1, and it went into effect on Tuesday, June 1, stipulating that abortion is now ...
