Catching up with the ‘Choose Life’ license plate controversy
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- October
- 7
Back in 2006, I wrote about Elizabeth Rex of Yonkers (that’s her), the president of the Children First Foundation, which has been trying to get New York and New Jersey to issue “Choose Life” license plates.
The plates would raise money to promote adoption and support groups that take care of pregnant women. They would also, of course, make an anti-abortion statement.
All across the country, groups have been trying to promote Choose Life plates, creating mini-controversies in many states.
The groups say they deserve freedom of expression if other organizations get to have message-promoting license plates. But many politicians are leery about state plates that would be perceived as opposing abortion.
In New York, as in many states, Choose Life plates are stuck in the courts.
But Arizona will now have to start issuing the plates after the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to take up a January ruling by a federal court that was in favor of an Arizona group promoting the plates.
The Arizona Life Commission had been seeking the plates for six years. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona’s license plate commission, in turning down the plate request, had violated the Life Commission’s right to free speech.
Meanwhile, in New York, the Children First Foundation is hopeful that the Supreme Court’s decision to stand aside will influence their case and ultimately lead to the issue of Choose Life plates here.
Most people are unaware of the license plate controversy. But it an interesting front in the ongoing culture wars—mixing free speech issues, the Great Divide over public abortion policy, and the desire to promote “adoption education” for not only pregnant women but families that might be interested in adoption.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 11:46 am by Gary Stern.
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The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
