Why can't the DemocRATS be happy with their own "Choose death" plates?
Get some bumper stickers that say.....ABORTION STOPS A BEATING HEART
This sort of thing out of him should not be surprising.
Does the gov't need to be in the "putting an issue on a license plate" business at all?
Posted on Wed, May. 12, 2004
Group sues for 'Choose Life' tag
Backers of adoption instead of abortion say N.J. violated rights by rejecting a license plate.
By John Shiffman
Inquirer Staff Writer
Citing the First Amendment, an antiabortion group has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a McGreevey administration decision to reject a proposed "Choose Life" specialty license plate.
The organization has argued that the denial is unconstitutional because it was based on the content of the group's slogan, "Choose life."
New Jersey rejected the plate because it contained an "advocacy message."
A spokesman for the state attorney general declined to comment on the lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
When state officials rejected the "Choose Life" plate, they suggested alternative messages, such as "Choose Adoption" or "Adopt a Baby," according to the lawsuit.
"We thought about using those, but decided it's not going to get the message out," said Demetrios K. Stratis, a lawyer for the Children First Foundation of Eastchester, N.Y.
"Everyone knows what 'Choose Life' means. 'Choose Adoption' is not as familiar," he said. "In essence, this is a pro-life message; we believe we are being rejected because of our viewpoint."
The lawsuit, which alleges that Gov. McGreevey was involved in the decision to reject the plate, comes after two Roman Catholic bishops said this month that they would no longer administer Communion to the governor because of his support of abortion rights. In response, McGreevey said he would no longer seek Communion in public.
New Jersey has approved 42 specialty tags for nonprofit organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police, Kiwanis International, Square Dancers, and the Firemen's Mutual Benefit Association. The plates are offered to "qualified nonprofit community, alumni or service organizations in New Jersey to commemorate their groups' civic contributions and achievements," according to the state's Web site.
The Children First Foundation said it met the state's initial requirement for a specialty plate in June, when it submitted a $12,500 fee and the names of 500 people who pledged to buy the tags.
The foundation, created by a New York couple who adopted children, describes itself as a "not-for-profit, nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization." A central goal is to persuade pregnant girls and women to choose adoption over abortion, Stratis said.
The license-plate campaign was as much a fund-raising tool as an effort to market a message, said John Atkinson 3d of Marlton, the state coordinator. Before drivers can get such a plate, the state requires that they be members of the nonprofit organization. Children First planned to use the money from its increased membership to help women pay for costs associated with pregnancy and adoption.
The group hoped to raise $200,000 by the end of this year from the plates, according to the lawsuit. The group raised just $2,000 in 2002, according to tax returns for that year, the latest available.
Priscilla Smith, director of domestic legal programs for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the state had an interest in regulating content on specialty plates for public-safety reasons.
"To the extent it wishes to prevent hostility on the roadways, the state can restrict obscenity or inciteful language on vanity plates," Smith said. "So I would think it would OK here if there is a similar public interest."
But Smith said the state may not reject the antiabortion group's plate simply because it disagrees with the content of its message. She noted that abortion-rights groups had sued other states where legislatures approved pro-life plates but not pro-choice plates. At least 10 states offer "Choose Life" plates.
David Hudson, a legal scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said the issue was so unsettled in federal appeals courts that "it would not come as a surprise if it were before the U.S. Supreme Court in the next year or two."
is there a newspaper link about this or do you have an e mail from the republicans. I can't seem to find out anything about this.