'Choose life' car tags get Senate OK (Georgia)

[CShine]

Anti-abortion senators amended a House bill Monday to allow for license plates that would say "Choose life." House Bill 1253 originally let spouses of dead Medal of Honor winners keep special license plates. The anti-abortion message was amended to the bill 38-10. The measure has to go back to the House. The Republican-controlled Senate defeated attempts to allow license plates that would carry a "Pro-family, pro-choice" message or that would promote the AIDS Survival Project.

The additional $25 charge for such license plates is designated for the cause they advertise. For a "Choose life" plate, some of the extra fee would go to "assisting crisis pregnancy centers and nonprofit adoption agencies" that do not discuss abortion.

The Senate also agreed to amendments that would add plates promoting "Adopt a child" and acknowledging the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, a historically black organization.

A portion of funds that would have been collected under the failed amendment allowing the abortion-rights message would have been dedicated to state-funded programs that support adoption agencies and for foster care programs. Part of the money that would have been collected, if the AIDS Survival Project plate had passed, would have gone to programs for people with HIV.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/legislature/0304/23legtag.html

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Trainspotting fans?

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. "I chose not to choose life. I chose something else."

(n/t)

[Gore1FL]

2. As long as "Choose" is in there, It is a rhetorical victory

n/t

[Almost_there]

5. Exactly...

Can abortion rights folks get something catchy on plates? Such as "The Right to Choose"? That's almost too ambiguous, but, both sides need a voice...

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Choose choice? n/t

[Rationality]

3. This seems to be a Southern thing

Florida did it when Jeb! became the governor, South Carolina already passed a similiar thing... now Georgia. I'm sure there are other states that already implemented this too.

Is Georgia pushing some parental notification law as well, by any chance? They're putting up for a vote in Florida.

[izzie]

4. I never get the license plate thing.

When you are driving around who wants anyone to know who you are? Who cares what is on your plate? I guess if you wish to pay the extra it is your money but I would not give the state one cent for a special plate. Heck I would not even put a number on my house until the town said I would have to for the 911 calls. I used to tell people the number on the telephone pole next to the drive way. One day the PO asked where I got the number I was using and they thought it was pretty funny.

[progressivebydesign]

10. I call that 'bumper stick evangelicism"

In my old town in California, you couldn't turn your head without seeing some sort of relgious or pro-life bumper sticker, license frame, etc. I don't understand the need for these people to adorn their car with their particular brand of religious and/or "moral" stance. Who really gives a fuck? I sure don't! In my new town, I've seen one.. one bumper sticker about choosing life.

[mth44sc]

8. Meanwhile - here in South Carolina

Court rules against ‘Choose Life’ plates

Appeals judges say anti-abortion slogan on vehicles goes against First Amendment

By PAMELA HAMILTON

The Associated Press



The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that South Carolina’s anti-abortion license plates are unconstitutional.

A three-judge panel unanimously ruled Monday that the plates, which bear the slogan “Choose Life,” violate the First Amendment by giving anti-abortion advocates a forum to express their beliefs without giving abortion rights supporters a similar forum.

“By limiting access to a specialty license plate to those who agree with its pro-life position, the State has distorted the forum in favor of its own viewpoint,” the court wrote. “... South Carolina has engaged in viewpoint discrimination by allowing only the Choose Life plate.”

The ruling, which upholds a federal judge’s December ruling, is at odds with one by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court ruled in December 2002 that Louisiana abortion rights advocates had no standing to sue that state because of its anti-abortion plate.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/8253142.htm

[klook]

11. Good news

Activists in Georgia and other states with troglodyte leadership need to take note.

However, as the article states, the 5th Circuit has ruled the other way in Louisiana case.

[David__77]

9. Courts will toss these things.

They cannot do this. It's questionable if even any special plates are legal. The state must maintain neutrality on this question.