At issue was a 25-year precedent that allows local governments to create protest-free buffer zones around all health-care facilities, not just abortion clinics.

The Supreme Court turned away two appeals asking the justices to overrule a 25-year-old decision that allowed for buffer zones around abortion clinics.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a challenge to the legality of buffer zones used to protect access to abortion clinics and limit harassment of patients in a challenge brought by anti-abortion activists who have argued that their free speech rights were being violated.