Washington (CNN) In announcing plans to take up a challenge to California law that requires anti-abortion pregnancy centers to post information about low-cost abortion services, the Supreme Court will return to familiar yet rocky ground pitting speech rights against abortion rights. Such cases turning on the First Amendment sometimes become proxies for the larger, enduring fight over a woman's right to end a pregnancy.

The case centers on a 2015 California state law requiring pregnancy-related clinics, including those with religious convictions against abortion, to provide clients with information about publicly financed contraception, abortion and other family-planning services.

State officials said the notice law ensures that all California women, regardless of income, are aware they can obtain reproductive services. The challengers argue that it unconstitutionally forces centers that oppose abortions to post notices that encourage women to seek information on free or low-cost abortions.

The dispute recalls other speech-related clashes, over rules regarding physician counseling on abortion to regulation of health-clinic protesters. Such cases have at times come down to a single vote and mirrored justices' abortion views. For example, in 1991, the court, by a 5-4 vote with conservatives in the majority, ruled that Congress could prohibit government-funded clinics from counseling women on abortion. Separately, in 1993, it restricted federal judges' ability to prevent clinic blockades by anti-abortion demonstrators.

More recently, in 2014, when the court unanimously rejected a Massachusetts law that kept protesters away from clinics, justices nevertheless split 5-4 in their reasoning. The more conservative justices said that the majority's approach failed to sufficiently protect the protesters' First Amendment rights.

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