New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has demanded that a faith-based pregnancy nonprofit turn over its donor records.

However, the organization has challenged that move and the Supreme Court recently said it will hear the case. 

Pro-life group seeks to litigate case in federal court

According to Fox News, Platkin issued the subpoena to First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a group which operates Christian-based centers which help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies.

In its petition, First Choice called Platkin's demand "invasive" and alleged that the state attorney general "has made no secret of his hostility towards pregnancy centers."

While the organization is seeking to litigate the subpoena in federal rather than state court, that attempt was rejected by a district court and the decision was subsequently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Platkin has countered that the matter is not ripe for federal review as his subpoena has yet to be enforced by a state court. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over the matter in October.

Supreme Court struck down California law targeting pregnancy centers

This is not the first time that members of America's highest judicial body have agreed to hear a case concerning pregnancy centers, as it previously did so seven years ago.

As Fox News reported, the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a California law requiring pregnancy centers to post information on how to get a state-funded abortion was unconstitutional.

What's more, the law also mandated that unlicensed, non-medical facilities disclose to clients that they are not licensed medical providers.

Pregnancy centers which failed to comply with those requirements faced a $500 fine for the first offense and a $1000 fine for every offense thereafter.

Justice Clarence Thomas called law "unjustified and unduly burdensome"

In writing his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas complained that "California cannot co-opt the licensed facilities to deliver its message for it" and called the law's requirements "unjustified and unduly burdensome."

That decision was welcomed by Kevin Theriot who served as senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group which represented pregnancy centers.

"California used its power to force pro-life pregnancy centers to provide free advertising for abortion," Theriot was quoted as telling Fox News in a statement.

"In stopping enforcement of this law, the Supreme Court said, 'The people lose when the government is the one deciding which ideas should prevail,'" he went on to add.