"Choose Life" Unconstitutional in North Carolina

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**d-usa**

On a license plate at least:

via CNN

'Choose Life' license plates ruled unconstitutional in North Carolina
01:13 AM ET
By Joe Sutton, CNN

(CNN) - A federal judge ruled that North Carolina's new "Choose Life" license plates are unconstitutional because the state does not offer a pro-choice alternative.

"The State's offering a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice alternative constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment," U.S. District Court Judge James Fox wrote in the ruling Friday.

The ruling was praised by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a lawsuit in 2011 to stop the specialty plates.

"This is a great victory for the free speech rights of all North Carolinians, regardless of their point of view on reproductive freedom," said Chris Brook of the ACLU. "The government cannot create an avenue of expression for one side of a contentious political issue while denying an equal opportunity to citizens with the opposite view."

Republican state Rep. Mitch Gillespie, who sponsored the bill for the "Choose Life" plates, said he would push for an appeal of the judge's decision, CNN affiliate WRAL reported.

The bill for the license plates passed in 2011, and the legislation also mandated that money raised from the sale of the specialty plates would go to a nonprofit that supports crisis pregnancy centers, WRAL reported.

During the fight to get the bill passed, North Carolina lawmakers voted down amendments that would have created pro-choice alternatives such as "Trust Women. Respect Choice," the affiliate reported.

The "Choose Life" plates are available in 29 states, according to Choose Life Inc., a nonprofit that helps states that want to sell these specialty plates.

**Mannahnin**

I was going to say I'm fine with them, as long as the opposite option is available too. "Trust women, respect choice" is a good one. And then I read this part...

The bill for the license plates passed in 2011, and the legislation also mandated that money raised from the sale of the specialty plates would go to a nonprofit that supports crisis pregnancy centers,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_pregnancy_center#Waxman_Report

**Peregrine**

In addition to the pro-choice option I demand a license plate that says "choose death".

**LordofHats**

Maybe we can save some money and just have a license plate that says "Choice. Make it."

**d-usa**

LordofHats wrote:
Maybe we can save some money and just have a license plate that says "Choice. Make it."

Only if we can have a license plate with two people shagging saying "Life. Make it."

**LordofHats**

d-usa wrote:
LordofHats wrote:
Maybe we can save some money and just have a license plate that says "Choice. Make it."

Only if we can have a license plate with two people shagging saying "Life. Make it."

Your idea has funnier implications

**Fafnir**

I'm okay with all these novelty plates, so long as they're not as ugly as the one in the OP.

**d-usa**

Fafnir wrote:
I'm okay with all these novelty plates, so long as they're not as ugly as the one in the OP.

Must have something to do with the organization that sponsors them all, because ours if fugly as well:

**Testify**

Why the hell do number plates need a political statement on them? I thought only teenagers were obsessed with expressing themselves.

**d-usa**

Testify wrote:
Why the hell do number plates need a political statement on them? I thought only teenagers were obsessed with expressing themselves.

Because why should people just give $X to something they support if they can have their legislators pass laws instead that allow them to still spend $X on a plate, then have the state send $Y to some agency while you rub your preferences into everyones face.

Now to be fair, when I was still with the fire department I did have a firefighter licence plate. That $18 a year was worth every penny when a cop pulled up behind me.

**Peregrine**

Testify wrote:
Why the hell do number plates need a political statement on them? I thought only teenagers were obsessed with expressing themselves.

Call it a tax on stupid people. By buying one of these plates you get to broadcast to everyone around you that not only are you a clueless pro-lifer, but that you have no aesthetic taste. It's a win-win situation, the state gets extra money to spend on useful things, while the rest of us get to know who to avoid.

**Ensis Ferrae**

If we really want to continue with these cause plates, I demand one in all 50 states that is a "Give War a Chance" plate... cuz, you know... we all hate hippies

**KalashnikovMarine**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
If we really want to continue with these cause plates, I demand one in all 50 states that is a "Give War a Chance" plate... cuz, you know... we all hate hippies

I thought Disabled Veteran plates did that already

**Frazzled**

LordofHats wrote:
Maybe we can save some money and just have a license plate that says "Choice. Make it."

I'd much much prefer one that says "SHUT UP AND DRIVE" Now that will save lives.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Testify wrote:
Why the hell do number plates need a political statement on them? I thought only teenagers were obsessed with expressing themselves.

Testify has a point.

**Kilkrazy**

"Choose choice, or not, according to preference."

**Ensis Ferrae**

Frazzled wrote:
LordofHats wrote:
Maybe we can save some money and just have a license plate that says "Choice. Make it."

I'd much much prefer one that says "SHUT UP AND DRIVE" Now that will save lives.

Unfortunately that one wont change until all 50 states make it illegal to use a phone without bluetooth as a driver in a running vehicle. It is one of many things i hate about where i'm stationed, because i see far too many idiots driving with a phone to their ear, and swerving about cuz they are incapable of doing two things at once.

**d-usa**

I need bluetooth, without it I wouldn't be able to eat a hamburger while driving.

**Frazzled**

d-usa wrote:
I need bluetooth, without it I wouldn't be able to eat a hamburger while driving.

Just because you have blootooth doesn't make you a safe driver. Not hardly.

**d-usa**

Frazzled wrote:
d-usa wrote:
I need bluetooth, without it I wouldn't be able to eat a hamburger while driving.

Just because you have blootooth doesn't make you a safe driver. Not hardly.

Well, it would be just silly to be on the phone with one hand and holding my burger in the other...

**Palindrome**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
, because i see far too many idiots driving with a phone to their ear, and swerving about cuz they are incapable of doing two things at once.

A hands free set makes only a small difference to the drivers performance. Its not the physical act of holding a phone that makes driving dangerous, its the me split in concentration between the road and the conversation.

**Steve steveson**

d-usa wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
d-usa wrote:
I need bluetooth, without it I wouldn't be able to eat a hamburger while driving.

Just because you have blootooth doesn't make you a safe driver. Not hardly.

Well, it would be just silly to be on the phone with one hand and holding my burger in the other...

Exactly. Without bluetooth you would have to keep swapping between your drink and your burger which is a right pain. The burger keeps sliding out of reach on the passenger seat.

**Frazzled**

d-usa wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
d-usa wrote:
I need bluetooth, without it I wouldn't be able to eat a hamburger while driving.

Just because you have blootooth doesn't make you a safe driver. Not hardly.

Well, it would be just silly to be on the phone with one hand and holding my burger in the other...

See thats poor management right there.
Fries stuck in door handle: CHECK
Burger in mouth: CHECK
Hand holding drink: CHECK
Crook of neck holding phone: CHECK
Other hand holding map: CHECK

Now thats proper management.

**d-usa**

Wiener Dog running between your legs and pedals?

**Alfndrate**

Bluetooth?

That's why I text behind the wheel... Phone in the left hand, knee keeping the steering wheel on the straight and narrow, burger in the right hand, map on the wheel, eyes darting between phone, map, and road. The tricky thing is trying to hit the turn signal with my elbow.

**Orlanth**

It would make more sense if all number plates were of set colours and font and statement free as they are in most of Europe.

The only statements allowed should be in small print so that it doesnt detract from the salient information. Number plates are for clear car registration, for everything else use a stencil or window sticker, and there needs to be guidelines on the latter.

**Frazzled**

d-usa wrote:
Wiener Dog running between your legs and pedals?

No thats not their style. If they are in the footwell on the driver's side, they won't let you get in, and you have to coax them out before proceding.
Tbone will occasionlly get in the passenger footwell. On short trips (which is all he can do now), this isn't an issue, but otherwise its a problem because he can't get back into the seat and gets annoyed.

Proper wiener dog style is in your lap, looking out the window and occasionally licking you in the face.

Now mini van's thats different. Wiener One in lap. Wiener Two is roaming all over. This can be incredibly unnerving when all of the sudden there is movement or something brushes your leg. Magically by the time we stop. Wiener Two (Tbone) will always be in the far back, and will try to be helpful by getting up in the window by the door. The problem of course is that THERE IS NO DOOR there, and we have to coax him out (and he really gets pissed) or open the back hatch and get him out that way. It doesn't help that everyone is usually laughing at that point, Tbone is snarling at the world, and in the meantime ROdney has found something utterly dead and putrifying on the ground to eat while we're not looking.

**daedalus**

I came for the Trainspotting reference. I left empty handed.

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fething big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fething fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the feth you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fething junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fethed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?

**Alfndrate**

That opening line was my voicemail message. I got a few wrong numbers to sit through it because they recognized the quote...

It really made you think if you wanted to leave me a voicemail

**Ahtman**

Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others.

**Che-Vito**

< Taken by the void dragon. >