> States choose 'Choose Life' plates
>
> By Douglas Belkin, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
>
> Monday, July 17, 2000
>
> In Louisiana, "Choose Life" license plates will be on cars this fall. In
> Virginia, the legislature will debate them for the second time next year,
> and in Ohio a contest is under way to come up with a tag design to be voted
> on as early as September.
>
> Each campaign has one thing in common: It was inspired by Florida's
> anti-abortion movement.
>
> A bill allowing a "Choose Life" license plate in Florida was signed into
> law in June 1999 by Gov. Jeb Bush but is now tied up in court.
>
> The organization that lobbied for the plates, Choose Life Inc., has
> quietly pollinated dozens of copy-cat campaigns across the country.
> Inquiries from anti-abortion groups eager to try the same tactics in their
> states are still trickling into the campaign's Ocala headquarters.
>
> Choose Life Inc. President Randy Harris, the Marion County commissioner
> who came up with the idea for the specialty plate in 1996 while stuck in
> traffic, said national media coverage of the protests and lawsuit
> surrounding the Florida campaign triggered hundreds of calls from
> anti-abortion activists across the land and helped lead individuals and
> organizations in 35 states to launch campaigns of their own.
>
> Bills authorizing "Choose Life" license plates have been proposed in at
> least 10 states, said Russ Amerling, vice president of the organization.
> Louisiana and Florida are the only states that have passed the law.
>
> To promote their cause and germinate the idea, Harris said he and his
> organization offered advice and waived copyright restrictions for the
> bright yellow license plate logo, which shows a crayon drawing of a boy and
> girl and the words "Choose life."
>
> "The minute it hit the national news, we started getting inquiries from
> around the country, and as a matter of fact, I need to send Barry Silver a
> thank-you card for helping us get so much more attention than we could have
> paid for," Harris said.
>
> Silver is a Boca Raton attorney and former Democratic state representative
> who filed a suit saying the tags violated separation of church and state.
> The suit was filed on behalf of the National Organization for Women and
> Congregation L'Dor Va-Dor in Boynton Beach, where Silver's father is the
> rabbi.
>
> If the plates ever hit the streets in Florida, proceeds from the $22 fee
> will be funneled to groups aiding expectant mothers.
>
> About 70 percent of the money will go toward diapers, formula, medicine
> and clothing. The remaining 30 percent would train counselors for women who
> plan to give their children up for adoption and to defray the cost of
> advertising.
>
> Almost 16,000 plates were manufactured last fall at the state prison in
> Raiford at a cost of between $21,000 and $35,000. They will sit in a
> stockroom in Tallahassee until the courts decide whether they can be used,
> said Tom Joyce, the director of the Division of Motor Vehicles. If the
> courts ultimately decide to ban them, they will be destroyed.
>
> Silver, who is again running for state representative, has argued the tags
> amount to government support of the anti-abortion movement.
>
> "The license plate is a clear and present danger to the people of
> Florida," Silver said. "It has been the rallying cry responsible for
> murders and vandalism, and it would give the green light to would-be
> terrorists. When the state of Florida gives its seal of approval upon a
> people who have no regard for the law or human life, then that is very
> dangerous."
>
> The legislature first passed the bill creating the plates in 1998, but it
> was vetoed by Gov. Lawton Chiles, who said the plates sent a divisive
> political message. Legislative supporters lobbied for the tags again last
> year, saying they were simply a tool to support adoption. Bush signed the
> bill into law in June 1999.
>
> Since Harris came up with the idea of the plates, similar campaigns have
> been tried unsuccessfully in California, Kentucky, Indiana, Texas,
> Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. In Louisiana, the plates were
> approved in August, but a design has not been selected and the plates are
> not yet available, according to Joann Rushing, Supervisor of the Special
> Plates Unit of the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles.
>
> "It's easy to get these things done in Louisiana because we have a very
> pro-life legislature here," said Peg Kenny, who helped organize the
> campaign after the idea was imported from Florida.
>
> Rushing said there has been little contention surrounding the plates in
> her state. "Personally, I don't think it's been publicized," she said.
> "People don't really know about them yet." The state's largest newspaper,
> the New Orleans Times-Picayune, has not run a story on the plates.
>
> In Virginia, State Delegate Richard Black sponsored a bill using Florida's
> "Choose Life" design. The bill passed the House and Senate but stalled when
> they couldn't agree on different versions.
>
> "The Senate didn't like the word `life' and they didn't like the word
> `choose,' " Black said. "They changed it to something like `family
> friendly,' so I had it stricken."
>
> Black said he introduced the bill after hearing about Florida's effort in
> 1998. "We have 50 specialty license plates supporting everything from the
> AFL-CIO to the NRA to encouraging people to neuter their dogs and cats, and
> we just thought having a gentle message of encouragement to expectant
> mothers was very appropriate." Black said he intends to propose the bill
> again next year.
>
> In Indiana, the plate was attached to a bill approving Veterans of Foreign
> Wars plates but was killed when plates supporting the AFL-CIO and United
> Auto Workers were added to the bill, said Roger Tennyson, the executive
> vice president of Indiana's Right To Life organization. Tennyson also said
> he would attempt to push the bill through again.
>
> Though Silver was not aware the campaign had been taken nationwide, he
> said he wasn't surprised to hear it.
>
> "It is a concerted effort by the anti-choice movement nationwide to try
> and chip away at church and state," Silver said. "This is not a Florida
> issue; it's a national movement."
>
> douglas_belkin at pbpost.com