By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday passed up a chance to consider overruling its own precedent allowing protective "bubble" zones around abortion clinic patients, turning away a challenge by a Catholic woman in New York to a now-repealed county law passed after the justices overturned abortion rights nationally in 2022.
The justices declined to hear abortion opponent Debra Vitagliano's appeal of a lower court's decision to throw out her lawsuit that had claimed the Westchester County measure that had limited protests or "sidewalk counseling" near abortion clinics violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech. The county is located north of New York City.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham and Grant McCool)