Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE - House Speaker Johnnie Byrd used a list of "Choose Life" license tag owners to promote a new parental-notice abortion law, an aide confirmed Wednesday. Byrd spent $14,000 in tax money on the mailing last month, days after he announced his bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. A letter sent to about 30,000 holders of the tags, signed by Byrd and Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, criticized the Florida Supreme Court for ruling that a parental notification law violated the state Constitution's privacy clause. Byrd's use of the Choose Life database to send a political message shows that the...

They're refusing to be silenced. A pro-life group has found a new way to express their freedom of spech - after a federal judge silenced the alternative. Remember that ban on specialty license plates? A division of the Knights of Columbus, called the Knights for Life, have found a way to get around it. WAFB's Jennifer Hale has the story. "It's beautiful - it's really beautiful." It is the new scheme pro-life forces have devised to get around a court order blocking them , and everyone else, from having specialty license plates. The Knights of Columbus is now selling "Choose...

Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) -- Unlike in several other southern states, the move for Choose Life license plates in Georgia has stalled. As do most other states, Georgia has affinity license plates for just about every political cause or charity. The enormous number of plates has caused the state to examine its entire plate system, which is holding up issuance of a Choose Life plate to support adoption and abortion alternatives. A legislative study committee was created by the Georgia state legislature earlier this year to clean up the plate system. That put 60 new plates on hold, including the...

New Orleans, Jul. 10 (CWNews.com) - A federal judge has ruled that Louisiana's system of allowing specialty auto license plates is unconstitutional because it allows certain viewpoints while excluding others. Pro-abortion groups had filed suit against the sale of "Choose Life" plates, contending that their free speech rights had been curtailed and that the fees for the plates were unfairly allocated. In 2000, US District Judge Stanwood Duval blocked the sale of the "Choose Life" plates, saying they amounted to viewpoint discrimination. But last fall the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals sent the lawsuit back down to Duval and...

Federal Judge Blocks Anti-Abortion Plates Wed Jul 9, 8:41 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Louisiana from issuing specialty license plates, dealing a victory to abortion-rights activists who challenged the state's decision to allow "Choose Life" plates. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that Louisiana's system for specialty plates violates the First Amendment because it allows the anti-abortion plates but does not offer one for the opposing view. "If the state built a convention hall for speech and then only allowed...

<p>NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge has blocked the state from issuing specialty license plates, a victory for abortion-rights activists who challenged the Legislature's decision to allow an anti-abortion plate without authorizing one for the other view.</p> <p>In a decision filed late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval said the plates, which show a cartoon of a pelican carrying a baby, constitute a public forum covered by free-speech rights.</p>

<p>A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Louisiana from issuing specialty license plates, dealing a victory to abortion-rights activists who challenged the state's decision to allow "Choose Life" plates.</p> <p>U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that Louisiana's system for specialty plates violates the First Amendment because it allows the anti-abortion plates but does not offer one for the opposing view.</p>

'Choose Life' plate passes Bredesen lets bill become law without his signature By Sam Youngman youngman@gomemphis.com June 18, 2003 NASHVILLE - Gov. Phil Bredesen kept his pen and his veto power in his pocket Tuesday, allowing the controversial "Choose Life" specialty license plate bill to become law without his signature. The bill became a political hot potato when it was amended to send proceeds from tag sales directly to New Life Resources, an organization with close ideological ties to the anti-abortion group Tennessee Right to Life. Before any of the tags are produced, a minimum of 1,000 orders must be...

Source: Pro-Life Infonet; June 3, 2003 Ohio Choose Life Plate Gets Group's Backing Columbus, OH The Christian Coalition of Ohio today signaled its continuing support for HB 129, legislation to establish a "Choose Life" license place for Ohio motorists. The House Transportation and Public Safety Committee was scheduled yesterday to receive sponsor testimony from State Representative Ron Young (R-63) on HB129. Under the legislation, proceeds generated by the "Choose Life" specialty license plate will be used to promote adoption as a positive alternative to abortion. The "Choose Life" plates will cost an added $30 in addition to the regular fees...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 13, 2003 Federal Appeals Court Rejects Challenge To Florida's "Choose Life" License Plate Atlanta, Georgia - On 3/12/03, the Federal Appeals Court for the Eleventh Circuit rejected a challenge to Florida's "Choose Life" license plate brought by several pro-abortion groups and individuals. The abortion advocates had brought the challenge claiming that the Choose Life license plate was unconstitutional because it only allowed for "one side" of the abortion debate to be presented. Liberty Counsel represented several license plate owners and crisis pregnancy centers that were eligible to receive the funds from the Choose Life license plates....

Last fall when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving "Choose Life" license plates, supporters of the customized tags figured the controversy had finally been settled. But in the last few weeks, two court decisions have called the tags' constitutionality into question -- giving abortion supporters new hope in their fight against the state-sponsored license plates, which are available in six states and pending in a seventh. After one failed attempt, Florida became the first state to offer a "Choose Life" license plate in 1999. A lawsuit filed by the National Organization for Women's South Palm Beach...

The illogic of Judge Bertelsman By Holly Gatling, Executive Director South Carolina Citizens for Life (COLUMBIA, SC Jan. 3, 2003) -- In late December of 2002, U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman ruled that South Carolina's Choose Life license plate law is unconstitutional. The plate, which includes the slogan "Choose Life," violates the First Amendment, Bertelsman said, because it gives voice to pro-lifers who believe choosing life for unborn babies is the right "choice," but denies pro-aborts the "right" to have their own Chose Death license plate. The illogic of Bertelsman’s decision is mind-boggling. In South Carolina, the legal battle...

Federal judge rules against SC's 'Choose Life' plates (Columbia-AP) Dec. 31, 2002 - A federal judge has ruled South Carolina's anti-abortion license plates are unconstitutional. The plates include the slogan "Choose Life." US District Judge William Bertelsman says the license plates violate the First Amendment, because they give anti-abortion advocates a forum to express their beliefs, while abortion rights supports have no license plate of their own. A spokesman for the attorney general's office says the state plans to appeal the decision to Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Spokesman Robb McBurney says he's hopeful the state will...

Virginia Freepers....There is an effort in the VA House of Delegates, for the upcoming (Jan-Feb 2003) session, to pass a bill to allow CHOOSE LIFE license plates in VA. Other states already have them. Delegate Dick Black has filed a bill (HB 1406)to create these plates. The money raised will go toward adoption services! Please visit this website here to add your name/address as a supporter of this important legislation!

<p>Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a "Choose life" lawsuit, it's time for the pro-abortion movement to acknowledge defeat and move on to some other form of activism that might be more productive.</p> <p>Louisiana allows its residents to buy a license plate that features those words, with a pelican holding a blanket-wrapped baby in its beak. That plate costs an extra $25, and the proceeds are used to promote adoptions.</p>

Choose Life Plate Battle Really About Ideology by John Leo Florida has sold more than 40,000 license plates carrying the tag line "Choose Life." Five other states have decided to offer them, too. Others were planning to, until they got bogged down in lawsuits brought by the major pro-abortion groups, chiefly the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. These groups argue that states offering these plates are violating the First Amendment by engaging in viewpoint discrimination -- allowing an anti-abortion message but not a countermessage from the abortion rights side. They also argue that the plates are...

'Choose Life' tag may have hit $1 million By Bill Cotterell DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER It's been a long and bumpy legal and political road, but supporters of Florida's "Choose Life" license tag think they have passed the $1 million milepost. "We don't know where or exactly when that tag sale or renewal took place, but we believe we went over the top this past week," said Russ Amerling, an organizer with the Ocala-based organization promoting the bright yellow tag. "We're going to be tracking the figures and try to pinpoint a millionth-dollar tag sale." The Department of Highway Safety and...