http://www.lifenews.com/state169.html
Arizona Attorney General Wants Choose Life Plate Lawsuit
Dismissed
by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
October 3, 2003
Phoenix, AZ (LifeNews.com) -- The Arizona Attorney
General’s
Office has recommended dismissal of a lawsuit
designed to make
"Choose Life" license plates available in that
state.
The reasons include a lack of a right to free speech
on a license plate --
despite the fact that other for-profit and
non-profit groups have been
allowed to have plates made benefiting their
organizations.
The Arizona Life Coalition had filed suit on
September 4, alleging that
the state's License Place Commission, by denying the
organization's
"Choose Life" plate design, violated their right to
free speech. The suit
alleges that the reason given, that the "Choose
Life" slogan was too
controversial and the group did not benefit the
community widely
enough, was not sufficient reason to discriminate
against the pro-life
group, which intended to use its $17 share of the
$25 registration fee to
help crisis pregnancy centers in Arizona.
Some groups that have been approved by the Arizona
License Plate
Commission include the University of Phoenix, a
for-profit entity, as well
as other non-profits: the Fire Fighter's Union, the
Fraternal Order of
Police, the Legion of Valor, and the Wildlife
Conservation Council.
"We will pursue every legal option to stand up for
the women and
children of Arizona who need this critical support,"
Shane Wikfors,
Executive Director of Arizona Right to Life told
LifeNews.com. "[They]
don’t seem to understand that every dollar raised
will help women who
have decided to choose life. During these
financially challenging times,
the Arizona Life Coalition has stepped up to the
plate to offer a private
sector solution to the problem of crisis
pregnancies."
"I fee quite confident they will prevail," Russell
Amerling, National
Publicity Coordinator of Choose Life, Inc. said of
the Arizona Life
Coalition. "[The right to] free speech has prevailed
in other states
regarding specialty plates, including the 'Choose
Life' plates."
During an interview with LifeNews.com, Amerling
explained that in two
states, South Carolina and Louisiana, opponents of
the "Choose Life"
plates had filed lawsuits to block the plates. He
also stated that even
after denying the plates, Connecticut now has
"Choose Life" plates on
the roads.
Nine states currently have plates on residents’
cars: Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Arkasas, Conneticut,
Maryland, and
Louisiana. Due to an injunction, Louisiana has
halted the sale of
"Choose Life" plates, despite the fact they have
been printed there
already for about one year.
Three states have approved the plates but have not
yet made them
available: Tennessee, Montana, and South Carolina.
According to Amerling, the plates have generated
approximately 2.3
million dollars to abortion alternatives, such as
adoption and crisis
pregnancy centers. Florida’s "Choose Life" plates
have generated 2
million of that revenue.
The Arizona Life Coalition is a collection of
pro-life organizations,
including Arizona Right to Life, the Center for
Arizona Policy, several
crisis pregnancy centers, the Knights of Columbus
and other groups that
help women facing unexpected pregnancies.
--
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