The Constitutionality of Anti-Abortion License Plates is Up for Debate

The Constitutionality of Anti-Abortion License Plates is Up for Debate

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The renewed attention to these plates comes on the heels of a Guttmacher Institute report on “Choose Life” license plates. The report shows that there are currently 28 states that allow these types of plates, and out of those states 15 allow the money raised to go directly to anti-abortion organizations. The report also notes that “reproductive health activists have challenged some of these policies, arguing that it is unconstitutional for a state to endorse one political viewpoint over another.”

Last year, for example, an appellate court in North Carolina upheld a judge’s ruling that the “Choose Life” license plate was unconstitutional because although the DMV allowed the plate, it had rejected designs with messages like “Trust Women” and “Respect Choice.” The judges argued that the disparity between those two decisions constituted a limitation on free speech. Plaintiffs in the North Carolina case wanted to bring it to the Supreme Court, but their plans were put on hold in December 2014 when the court took up a different case involving license plate constitutionality.

Judge Rosemary Pooler, who gave the majority decision in the N.Y. case, opposed “the perception of State endorsement” entwined with the offensive nature of an anti-abortion license plate. North Carolina appellate Judge James A. Wynn thought the problem wasn’t about state involvement but about free speech; regardless of the message, the DMV shouldn’t be able to practice “blatant viewpoint discrimination squarely at odds with the First Amendment.” The number of states with “Choose Life” programs has risen over the years, so these types of cases may soon become more common.


Read more: http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/06/15/the-constitutionality-of-anti-abortion-license-plates-is-up-for-debate/