-- A Madison County judge has rejected a

filed by several local abortion opponents to block operations of a Huntsville abortion clinic.

In a ruling this afternoon Madison County Circuit Judge Alan Mann denied the plaintiffs request for a temporary restraining order for the clinic -- the only one in North Alabama -- and he granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed by Christian Coalition of Alabama Executive Director James Henderson and 18 other abortion opponents.

The suit focused on what the plaintiffs said was improper zoning of the new Alabama Women's Center at 4831 Sparkman Drive. The lawsuit said the facility should not have been allowed to keep the same zoning as the previous medical clinic and should instead be treated as a surgical center.

Mann held a hearing Oct. 30 on the request for a temporary restraining order and a motion to dismiss by the Huntsville Board of Zoning Adjustment and the City of Huntsville.

The judge found city officials acted properly.

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In his ruling rejecting the temporary restraining order, Mann wrote the plaintiffs failed to show how the clinic's operation would cause them to suffer immediate or irreparable harm.

The judge also found they were unlikely to prevail on the merits of their arguments before the court.

In granting the dismissal the judge found the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the claims and that they raised claims which had not been brought before the zoning board.

The court also found that since the zoning variance had been continued from the previous property, there wasn't a new request to consider and a controversy for the court to decide.

"This Court does not render the decisions contained herein lightly and does so only after having thoroughly considered and carefully reviewed all of the submissions in support of, and in opposition to, defendants' motion to dismiss and supplement to motion to dismiss," Mann wrote. "The Court has taken into account all of the arguments of counsel, the testimony and evidence presented at the hearing, as well as all of the relevant and applicable law.

"The Court does not in this case, nor should it in any case, interpose personal feelings or politics in the rendering of a just and legal decision."