Choose Life license plates are specialty license plates available in 33Choose-Life.org
accessed September 2017 states in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that express an

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...

message. The plates are the concept of Choose Life, Inc., an

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

based in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Florida, United States. Located in North Central Florida, the city's population was 63,591 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 56,315 at the 2010 census and making ...

. It was founded in 1997 by Randy Harris, a Marion County commissioner, after being inspired by an environmental license plate on the car in front of him to use specialty license plates as a way to raise funds for

crisis pregnancy center A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC) or a pro-life pregnancy center, is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion movement in the United States, anti-abortion groups primarily to ...

s, which are nonprofit organizations established to counsel women against receiving abortions. The plates feature the phrase "Choose Life", a slogan used by the anti-abortion movement, and a Microsoft Paint style drawing of two children.Gielow Jacobs, Leslie. (2001)
Free Speech and the Limits of Legislative Discretion: The Example of Specialty License Plates
. '' Florida Law Review, 53 (3)'', 419-432.

History

In 1997, Choose Life, Inc. collected the 10,000 signatures and

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

30,000 required under Florida law at the time to submit an application for a new specialty plate, and State Senator Tom Lee sponsored a bill in support of the tag's creation. The bill passed both houses of the Florida Legislature in early 1998, but was vetoed by then-Governor Lawton Chiles, who stated that license plates are not the "proper forum for debate" on political issues. While campaigning for the governorship later in 1998,

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

stated that, if elected, he would sign a Choose Life bill if approved by the legislature. Choose Life, Inc. went forward with the plate application again, and, after passing both houses, Governor Bush signed it into law on June 8, 1999. Since then, Choose Life, Inc. has been active in helping groups in other states pursue "Choose Life" license plates.Madigan, Erin. (November 25, 2002).
Choose Life Car Tags Spark Debate
" ''Stateline.org''. Retrieved June 24, 2007. As of April 30, 2010, Choose Life, Inc. reported that Choose Life license plates had raised over $12 million. On June 21, 2011, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed House Bill 501, which directs the funds from the plates directly to Choose Life, Inc. Choose Life, Inc. is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, funded by donations and the sale of promotional items, such as T-shirts and neckties. A specialty license plate can cost an additional $25 – $70USD per year. Allocation of funds varies by state but funds typically go to

s, which are nonprofit organizations established to counsel women against receiving abortions.

States with ''Choose Life'' license plates

As of 2023, Choose Life license plates are available in 34 states and the District of Columbia: * Alabama * Alaska * Arizona * Arkansas * Connecticut * Delaware * District of Columbia * Florida * Georgia * Hawaii * Idaho * Indiana * Iowa * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Maryland * Massachusetts * Mississippi * Missouri * Montana * Nebraska (2017) * New Jersey * North Carolina (2016) * North Dakota * Ohio * Oklahoma * Pennsylvania * South Carolina * South Dakota * Tennessee * Texas * Utah * Virginia * Wisconsin (2016)

States where Choose Life has been rejected

* Michigan: In 2017, Gov.

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

vetoed a bill proposing the plates, citing "the potential to bitterly divide millions of Michiganders". * New York: For several years, litigation occurred between the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The original decision not to offer the specialty plates was overruled, but the issuance of the plates was held back pending an appeal in 2011. After more litigation, in 2015 the New York Department of Motor Vehicles' policy to exclude controversial, politically sensitive messages from plates was “reasonable and viewpoint neutral, which is all that the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

requires" according to the 2nd Circuit majority opinion. After the decision in '' Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans'', which gave states the right to determine whatever speech they want or do not want on plates issued by their state, no further appeal of the 2nd District decision was made by the ADF. * Rhode Island: Gov.

Lincoln Chafee Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a ...

vetoed a bill proposing the plates, citing the inappropriateness of using state license plates to fund religious initiatives.

Reaction and criticism

"Choose Life" license plates have been criticized by

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

organizations, which have argued that in authorizing them, but not offering plates conveying a pro-abortion rights message at the same time, states have carried out

viewpoint discrimination Viewpoint discrimination is a concept in United States jurisprudence related to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, Un ...

. To this charge, Russ Amerling, Choose Life, Inc.'s publicity coordinator, replied that " bortion rights groupshave just as much right to have a plate as we do, as long as they go through the same process we did and not try to piggy-back onto the various states' Choose Life bills". He also said that no " bortion rights groupshave ever applied for a plate of their own in any state, until an nti-abortion groupapplied for a 'Choose Life' plate." Before June 2015, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

had not yet clearly spoken on the legality of "Choose Life" specialty plates, and the federal circuits were split on their legality. The 4th Circuit had twice held that issuing an anti-abortion plate but not a pro-abortion rights plate is impermissible viewpoint discrimination, but the 6th Circuit held the opposite. The

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

and 7th Circuits had ruled that states could refrain from allowing any discussion of abortion on plates. When '' Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans'' was rendered in June 2015, however, it allowed states to determine whether it wants controversial language on their plates or not, including pro- or anti-abortion rights language, which precluded further litigation in New York against having the plates as had been decided a month earlier in the 2nd District, or further litigation in North Carolina for the plates, where the interpretation of the 4th Circuit that it was viewpoint discrimination to have one and not the other was reversed in 2016 after a review was demanded by the Supreme Court in light of Walker. , five states currently offer license plates which promote

: Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Choose-Life.org

Choose Life of Missouri, Inc.

Massachusetts Choose Life, Inc.
Anti-abortion organizations in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Florida Organizations established in 1997 Vehicle registration plates of the United States