A Lubbock, Texas ordinance that bans abortion and received overwhelming approval by voters is facing a court challenge.

The ordinance, which passed earlier this month with the approval of 62 percent of voters, prohibits abortion within the city limits and declares Lubbock a “Sanctuary City for the Unborn.”

“Abortion at all times and at all stages of pregnancy is declared to be an act of murder,” the ordinance says.

Barring court action, it will go into effect on June 1. Planned Parenthood opened a clinic in Lubbock in recent months and began performing abortions there in April.

“The Constitution of the United States guarantees the right to have an abortion,” the lawsuit states. “… The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to abortion before viability. Binding precedent of the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit establishes that laws banning pre-viability abortion are categorically unconstitutional.”

Because the ordinance “declares procuring, performing, aiding, or abetting abortion ‘unlawful’ and ‘murder,’” it “imposes substantial liability on anyone who procures, performs, aids, or abets an abortion in Lubbock,” the suit claims.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up a case involving a Mississippi law that bans pre-viability abortions. The court’s action, though, likely won’t have any immediate impact on the Lubbock lawsuit. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case this fall.

According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock officials said this week the city would “vigorously defend this ordinance and look forward to presenting that defense in court.”

“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,” said Texas Right to Life Director of Media and Communication Kimberlyn Schwartz. “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.” Christian Headline News

The following is from Pro Life Across America

  • 18 days from conception, heart begins to beat, with the baby’s own blood.
  • 28 days from conception a baby has eyes, ears, and even a tongue!
  • 28 days from conception: Muscles are developing along the future spine. Arms and legs are budding.
  • 30 days: Child has grown 10,000 times to 6-7mm (1/4”) long. Brain has human proportions. Blood flows in veins.
  • 42 days: Skeleton is formed. Brain coordinates movement of muscles and organs. Reflex responses have begun.
  • 42 days: Brain waves can be detected, the jaw forms, including teeth and taste buds. The unborn baby begins to swallow amniotic fluid. Fingers and toes are developing.
  • 45 days from conception: The unborn baby is making body movements, a full 12 weeks before the mother may notice such stirrings. By seven weeks the chest and abdomen are fully formed. Swimming with a natural swimmer’s stroke in the amniotic fluid, the baby now looks like a miniature human infant.
  • 44-45 days: Buds of milk teeth appear, and the unborn baby’s facial muscles develop. Eyelids begin to form, protecting the developing eyes. Elbows take shape. Internal organs are present, but immature. 99% of muscles are present, each with its own nerve supply.
  • 52 Days: Spontaneous movement begins. The unborn baby then develops a whole collection of moves over the next 4 weeks including hiccuping, frowning, squinting, furrowing the brow, pursing the lips, moving individual arms and legs, head turning, touching his/her face, breathing (without air), stretching, opening the mouth, yawning and sucking.                                                                                                                                                                                                                I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Psalms 139:14-16

 

Related:

‘Landslide’: Lubbock, Texas Voters Ban Abortion, Declare City a ‘Sanctuary’ for ‘the Unborn’