Ohio State Rep Ron Young has a bill he wants passed. He wants Ohio commemorative license plates embossed with the phrase Choose Life.
Some colleagues say the plate would amount to state sponsorship oof the pro-life movement.
$15 from each plate sold would go to Heartbeat International, an umbrella group for risis pregnancy centers. Opinions?
Are they going to offer a Pro-Choice alternative?
No ones started a bill for a pro-choice one.
Just this guy. Its still in committee.
By commemerative, that means it’s not an obligation to use, right? Because I would think the bigger problem would be forcing those living in Ohio to display an ideology they don’t believe in.
If it is by request only, I think it makes it a bit more complicated. I personally wouldn’t want that license plate. That the government isn’t advocating an anti abortion stance, merely stating that one should choose life, I don’t think it’s illegal. That doesn’t make it right, but in the 5 minutes I’ve had to think about it, I can’t put into words why this is so.
Questions:
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the 15$ ‘from each plate’ does this raise the price for the plate?
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how is the accounting for the above mentioned donations play about?
If, for example, the cost of the special plates is figured like this :
cost of plate + 15$ donation + some amount to compensate for the extra accounting costs to track # of plates sold, and check cutting costs, then the state is not paying for donations.
If, however, the price of the new plate does NOT include the above stuff, then there’s a major issue of the state donating state earned revenue.
If it does include it, I’d see it as similar to the post office’s breast cancer stamps. (which cost more than regular stamps).
For what it’s worth, “Choose life” is in two books of the Bible, but most notably Deuteronomy 30:19: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!” Not a bad sentiment, nor a pointedly pro-choice one. Unless you read something into the last sentence.
However that’s not to say it’s solely Biblical, any more than the phrase “There’s nothing new under the sun” - it may have its first recorded appearance there, but enough people have used it in so many different ways since that assuming a Biblical implication would be a little simplistic. My point is that “Choose life” also showed up in the Scottish drugscene movie “Trainspotting”, representing (in my reading) well-intentioned but hopelessly out-of-touch Government anti-drugs campaigns. Interestingly, Renton finally chooses to “Choose life”, albeit by stealing a sh*tload of money. It may be (you’d know better than I) that it’s also a Pro-Life slogan. But it’s been around long enough for us to cut him some slack. I don’t think anyone, even we who are pro-choice, is actually *anti-*life, are they?
It only seems fair that if you are able to buy a tag that expresses your support of the Pro-Life stand, that there should be a similar choice to have a tag that supports Pro-Choice.
What if the state of Michigan said that you could buy a tag supporting The University of Michigan, but not one for Michigan State University?
I don’t think it is a good idea, because of how emotional people can get on the subject of abortion (that is what we’re talking about, isn’t it?). What if I have a tag that says Pro-Choice and the guy across the street has Pro-Life. We’ve never talked about anything but our lawns and the weather and now we have opposing license tags. Suddenly we are in serious disagreement because of the tags.
The phrase itself, out of context, is innocent enough. BTW, I first remember seeing t-shirts that said Choose Life in a Wham! video years ago, and wondering aloud “as opposed to what?” I thought maybe it was an anti-teen suicide slogan or something. But as this phrase is associated with a divisive and emotionally charged issue, it seems that this is, at best, poor judgement to introduce this bill, and at worst, inflammatory.
As a current resident of the great 
state of Ohio, I am aware of several more pressing concerns. And I personally dislike having the state in the charity or collection business, even if it is a cause which I privately support.
???
“Choose life” is Pro-life? How do you figure? Pro choice means supporting the woman’s right to choose.The phrase choose life, to me, says, “You have a right to choose, I just encourage you to choose life.”
By labeling “choose life” as a pro-life stance makes me think that many so called “Pro-choice” people are actually pro abortion. If you really want the woman to have a right to choose, then one of her choices is life. I think the Pro-Choice movement would embrace this sort of thing, not fight it.
Let the flaming begin.
Washington D.C. has a new licence plate that says, “Taxation Without Representation” but has not offered an alternative. This is a big issue there since they have no representatives in the House or Senate(rightly so, in my opinion).
So the idea seems to be acceptable in other parts of the country.
i find this disgusting… of course when politicians get together and make a “choose life” thingy, it is anti-abortion. Choose life, don’t choose killing your living baby. I think they should be sued - forced to have a “choose individual liberties” license plate too - and have the money go to the ACLU or something (or a pro-choice foundation).
WEW, I agree that, as slogans that have ever been used by the pro-life movement go, “choose life” is far and away the least offensive and does, as you point out, acknowledge the right to choose. (Asking that people with the opportunity to make a choice choose not to have an abortion does not offend me).
Nevertheless, the slogan IS used by, and therefore associated with, the right to life movement, and that makes it improper to put on a license plate.
The phrase “blessed be” is not anti-Christian, and is certainly open to a very pro-Christian interpretation, but I doubt that your average Bible belt Christian would be happy if it were to appear on their license plates.
Just to comment : there appear to be two points being debated – is “Choose Life” on its own an appropriate phrase for a license plate, and, slightly differently, is it acceptable to have a license plate available for purchase that donates to the pro-life cause?
Well, the State of California says that you can buy a license plate supporting UCLA, but not (currently) any other university. You can also buy license plates showing support for Yosemite, the coastline, child abuse prevention, veterans, and the fine arts. There is an additional fee for purchasing the plates, which is more than the amount indicated to be donated. So that is acceptable to wring, and myself as well.
If Ohio is the same way, I’ve no problem with it.
And I don’t see that there’s necessarily any reason to require an ‘opposing viewpoint’ along with one plan. I would expect that if someone proposed a bill that had a license plate donating to an abortion-rights group that Rep. Young could voice no objection.
There is clearly precedence for putting slogans on license plates. As I stated earlier, imho, this is a bad practice, and in Ohio it gets worse. I bought new plates about a week ago, and at the time they asked me “would I like to donate an extra dollar to help low income children receive eyecare?”, or something to that effect. I have nothing against programs which help kids to see better, I just don’t see the link with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
So as a general point I am personally opposed to this. Most states and bureaucracies are inefficient vehicles for what they are established to do, much less adding flankers.
But all the above aside, it is quite imprudent for the state to get involved in a philosophical, and frankly sometimes religious, issue.
Can someone post a cite here? I’ve heard about this proposal and there is more to it than what’s been presented here so far.
Here’s a link to the Choose Life organization which discusses their campaign to get these in the all states they can.
There are two different issues here as panamajack pointed out.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to have a license plate that says “choose life” on it because that phrase has been adopted by the pro-life movement and has become synonymous with it. These license plates are advertising, plain and simple. It’s one thing to have a bumper sticker say it. It’s another thing to have the state say it.
The pro-life movement is primarily (although I’m sure not exclusively) a faith-based movement. Government should not be in the business of promoting religious views. That may sound stupid to Christians, but it’s a really big deal to non-Christians.
Finally, that the state donates money to charity is not necessarily a big deal. States do it all of the time. What is a big deal is when the government gives money to faith-based organizations. It’s too much like the government is promoting that faith.
Finally, I personally believe that reproductive rights are an equal rights issue, not just a substantive due process issue (privacy), and that because the federal government at least prohibits spending on almost every kind of reproductive right service, it should not be in the business of spending on pro-life sponsored services except to the extent that those services include things like child care and aid to single moms.
Here’s another which has info on the legislation referenced in the OP.
Given that the back of a car provides lots of room for bumper stickers that may express far more extreme opinions, far more directly, politics should be kept off of licence plates. If you dislike adhesives on automotive paint, get a licence plate frame that expresses your views.
To put any political slogan on a licence plate, vague or not, is to create the appearance of the government condoning that viewpoint to the exclusion of others. Licence plate slogans should be like stamps: apolitical to the point of inanity.
This is Heartbeat International’s web page.
I would say that there is a difference between the state donating to a state school or less political charity (Is anyone pro breast cancer?) and this organization.