SUPREME COURT MARCH 20, 2018 / 1:09 AM / UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO

U.S. high court skeptical toward California law on anti-abortion centers

Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley
5 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A California law that requires Christian-based facilities that steer pregnant women away from abortion to post notices about the availability of state-subsidized abortions ran into trouble at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, with justices on the right and left indicating it may violate free speech rights.

Various justices voiced concern that the Democratic-backed 2015 law was crafted to take aim at a specific viewpoint — opposition to abortion — held by these non-profit facilities called crisis pregnancy centers.

Conservative justices sharply questioned the lawyer representing California, and even two liberal justices expressed unease with parts of the law during an hour-long argument in an appeal by these facilities of a lower court ruling upholding the statute. The court has a 5-4 conservative majority.

The crisis pregnancy centers accuse California of compelling them to advertise for abortion even though it violates their beliefs, running afoul of the guarantee of freedom of speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

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