Judge Dismisses Planned Parenthood Challenge to Texas Sanctuary City

A federal court smacked down Planned Parenthood's attempt to thwart a Texas city from declaring itself a sanctuary for the unborn.

Northern District of Texas judge James Wesley Hendrix dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the nation's largest abortion provider lacked the jurisdiction to challenge the law. "Because the ability to remedy a plaintiff's injury through a favorable decision is a prerequisite to a plaintiff’s standing to sue—an ability absent here—the court dismisses the case for lack of jurisdiction," Hendrix wrote.

On May 17, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit to stop the Lubbock ordinance from going into effect on June 1. It declared that the city would automatically outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. "It shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Lubbock, Texas," the ordinance says. Lubbock, with a population north of 250,000 people, is the largest city in Texas to adopt such a ban.