Lubbock residents go to the polls Saturday to decide whether their city should become a "sanctuary city" for the unborn.
Starting with Wascom on the Louisiana border, a number of small Texas towns have passed such an ordinance, but Lubbock is the only one that actually has a clinic that performs abortions.
Texas Tech law professor Richard Rosen says the ordinance violates state law due to Roe V Wade. He calls it "problematic to say the least, since it's trying to prohibit a procedure the Supreme Court says is constitutionally protected."
He says under the measure the city would not be able to bring action legal action as it is written. However it gives private citizens the right to sue abortion providers. "They can be sued for performing the abortion, even if the woman fully consented to the procedure. In fact, she can even sue, as well as her husband and her parents, her siblings, her half siblings can all bring suits for damages. It's strict liability for people who carry out abortions."
He says should voters pass the measure, it would be struck down in court.
