Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Monday against the City of Lubbock, which became the largest Sanctuary City for the Unborn through a public election on May 1. The lawsuit attacks the ordinance that bans abortion within city limits, claiming the policy violates the so-called “right” to abortion and asserts passing the ordinance was outside the city’s legal authority.
Earlier this month, Lubbockites overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition A, making the town the 23rd city in Texas with an active ordinance.
This lawsuit follows a failed attempt by the ACLU back in February 2020 to block ordinances in seven other cities. The ACLU eventually dropped the lawsuit, and Waskom, Naples, Joaquin, Tenaha, Rusk, Gary, and Wells are still Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn with strong ordinances in effect.
Texas Right to Life is confident the Pro-Life ordinance will hold up in court and the desperate suit will be dismissed. We also appreciate Lubbockites continuing to show great courage in standing up against the abortion industry.
The Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance passed by Lubbock is pertinent and enforceable, challenging Planned Parenthood’s presence in Lubbock. Planned Parenthood even admits this in their own lawsuit:
“Because the Ordinance declares procuring, performing, aiding, or abetting abortion ‘unlawful’ and ‘murder,’ imposes substantial liability on anyone who procures, performs, aids, or abets an abortion in Lubbock, and allows injunctions against anyone planning to so act, no doctor, nurse, or other staff at the Lubbock center will participate in the center’s abortion services. The legal and financial risk to the health center and to its personnel personally is too great. Even if they were to successfully defend against a civil suit, the litigation costs from the barrage of civil lawsuits encouraged by the Ordinance would be crushing. Indeed, the Ordinance has already forced Plaintiffs to cancel abortion-related appointments to avoid potential liability.”
(Emphasis added)
Planned Parenthood
Abortionists will be liable to civil lawsuits and criminal penalties upon the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Under this ordinance, women who may be seeking abortions are protected from any penalties and are in no way criminally or civilly liable.
Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz, a native West Texan and graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, responded to the lawsuit:
“Unsurprisingly, Planned Parenthood, which profits off the death of preborn children, is throwing a hodgepodge of complaints at the court and seeing what they can get to stick. In passing the ordinance, Lubbockites acted within their constitutional rights to self-governance and within the scope of current U.S. Supreme Court abortion jurisprudence. The ordinance language is solid and was carefully drafted in expectation of the abortion industry filing a lawsuit.”
As always, we are not afraid for Pro-Life policies to be challenged in court; we watched the abortion industry try to stop these ordinances at city hall, but when citizens and local leaders stood strong, the pro-abortion forces realized their only hope is to intimidate cities with lawsuits. Texas Right to Life looks forward to standing alongside the City of Lubbock.