WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear from a faith-based pregnancy center in New Jersey challenging a state investigation into whether it misled people into thinking its services included referrals for abortion.
The justices agreed to consider an appeal from First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which wants to block a 2023 subpoena from Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin seeking information about donors, advertisements and medical personnel. It has not yet been served.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case nearly three years after overturning abortion as a nationwide right. Since then, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions, and most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.
Attorneys for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers had described the organization as a “faith-based, pro-life pregnancy center.” Pregnancy centers generally try to steer women facing an unwanted pregnancy away from choosing an abortion.
The group challenged the subpoena in federal court, but a judge found that the case wasn’t yet far enough along to weigh in. An appeals court agreed.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers appealed to the Supreme Court, saying the push for donor information had chilled its First Amendment rights.
“State attorneys general on both sides of the political aisle have been accused of misusing this authority to issue demands against their ideological and political opponents," its lawyers wrote. “Even if these accusations turn out to be false, it is important that a federal forum exists for suits challenging those investigative demands.”
Meanwhile, Platkin has sought to enforce the subpoena in state court, but the judge there has so far refused the state’s push to require the group to turn over documents and told the two sides to negotiate instead.
The state had asked the justices to pass on the case, saying it doesn’t present the kind of significant lower-court controversy that requires the justices to step in.
“The decision below is correct and does not have the impacts petitioner alleges,” state attorneys wrote. The attorney general's office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The court will hear arguments in the case in the fall.
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Associated Press writer Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this story.
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Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
