A N.C. House committee has given their tentative approval to a new specialty license plate. A portion of the new “Choose Life” (as in “pro-life,” anti-abortion) tag’s proceeds would be donated to crisis pregnancy (i.e. anti-abortion) care centers.
Planned Parenthood speaks (h/t CapBlog):
Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina spokeswoman Paige Johnson said her group opposes the bill and believes legislative leaders won’t support allocating money for centers that fail to provide information to women about all of their options if they are pregnant.
If Planned Parenthood really believes that, then they are out of their minds.
One sizable constituency and voting bloc
+ One bill that voting bloc loves
Instant Political Capital
Yeah. Planned Parenthood has barely a chance. Maybe they should work on a “Defend Choice” tag. Let’s see how much the Right goes stark-raving mad then. Actually… that would be kind of funny to watch.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Maybe they should work on a “Defend Choice” tag
Planned Parenthood’s strategy in the license plate cases has never been to openly publicize its support for abortion rights. Rather, its goal is to shut down the speech of the anti-abortion side.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Um, no. Its goal is to make sure that the state government doesn’t create a tilted playing field for speech — one that favors some political views over others, and that especially favors those grossly oversimplified ones that can be boiled down to a bumper sticker slogan.
And speaking of bumper stickers, what’s wrong with them? Why fight to have the message on the license plate instead?
I’d venture a guess that it’s because a message on the plate issued by the government carries the imprimatur of the government. It’s important for some people to have the government endorse their message, even if tacitly. This is exactly why the government shouldn’t be in this business at all.
Have something to say? Say it yourself.
May 31st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
It’s not very hard to get a new license plate in NC… they only need 300 signatures. Rather than bitching about it like they always do, why not do a little research and push for their own plate? As the Atheist mentions in her linked post, I’m not really sure what it would say (”Choose Death”?), but this really isn’t a big deal if they would act rationally about it.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Your insinuation that they are being irrational is unsupported. There are plenty of rational reasons why they might think that the state shouldn’t even be in this business to begin with, or that the state’s policy should be different, or that such a forum (license plates) disproportionately favors oversimplification and jingoism.
Even if they could come up with a short phrase that accurately captured their position (which I understand to be something quite a bit more thoughtful and detailed than your “Choose Death” suggestion) do you think that any short phrase supported by 300 signatures would make it on a license plate in North Carolina? Just out of curiosity, how many “White Power” or “Allah Akhbar” plates are available in your state?
May 31st, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Actually Matt, Paige is right in her assessment that legislators won’t pass this bill. Why? Because this is one of the 13 or so anti-choice bills introduced every session and it hasn’t seen the light of day yet. Most legislators are committed to keeping controversial political issues off of license plates.
Is there a big voting block that is anti-choice? Sure. But this bill won’t move while the Democrats are in charge. Any D that supported this would likely be voted out in the next primary.
May 31st, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Ian… thanks for the info. Good to know. So the bill won’t pass. Great, but is it because they don’t agree with it, or because they just want to get re-elected. I guess either is fine. It would be good to know the real reasons though.