The city of Lubbock, Texas, took steps to ensure the unborn were safe in their city after its city council passed a unanimous 7-0 decision to ban abortions within its city limits. This would make Lubbock, with a population of nearly 260,000, the largest city to pass such a “sanctuary city for the unborn” law, and joins 22 other Texas cities in doing so.

This threw Planned Parenthood into a fit and challenged Lubbock’s ruling in a federal court. According to the Daily Wire, that challenge has now been dismissed.

Plaintiffs allege the ordinance is invalid because it violates federal constitutional rights, could not validly create civil liability between private parties, and is preempted by state law. But plaintiffs admit that even if the Court gave them everything they wanted, the Court’s ruling would not bar private citizens from bringing suit in state court, bind the state judiciary by its ruling, or force the ordinance’s repeal. 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.

The challenge fell flat thanks to Texas having never repealed its pre-Roe v. Wade statutes according to Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal. As reported by the Daily Wire, Kaardal made it clear that “Cities have the right to regulate businesses and practices within their bounds. A municipality may choose to allow gambling, or even prostitution, or may criminalize it. Abortion is a business, driven by profit, and is required to abide by municipal regulations.”

This is absolutely superb news for more than one reason. Not only does this save lives, but it will also inspire other cities to create their own “sanctuary city for the unborn” laws. For many pro-life states, a deluge of legislation that recognizes a child in the womb as a child will be passed to make this possible, further pushing groups like Planned Parenthood into situations where they have no recourse.

Rest assured, the response to this will be ugly. Lubbock’s decision is likely going to send pro-abortion groups and Democrats into panic mode, resulting in more legal challenges, but for today, it would appear that the pro-life population has won another victory.