Right to Choose 'Choose Life'

The busy Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm–not grant–North Carolina’s right to issue “Choose Life” license plates to residents. A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling that the plates were unconstitutional.

“State governments have a right to advance messages consistent with their public policies,” ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox said. “The Supreme Court has already affirmed that right. North Carolinians support protecting life and helping pregnant women in need; the First Amendment does not require the state to bow to demands that it censor the ‘Choose Life’ message.”

The problem, according to the judge, is that the state doesn’t issue pro-abortion plates. That would be relevant if North Carolina refuses to issue such plates. And it does. The state legislature rejected amendments for plates that read “Trust Women. Respect Choice” and “Respect Choice.”

If we take a strict majority-rule stance, the state’s decision not to print the pro-abortion plates was proper. What do you think?