# Pro-Life License Plates - Ohio **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 27, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431 "2005-04-27T20:26:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/21 "2005-04-28T12:31:54Z")
The most offensive quality of the Florida pro-life plate - and I see one pretty much every day - is that its color is virtually the same shade of yellow as “official vehicle” plates like those seen on cop cars and state vehicles etc. A subtle, yet clearly willful way to make that pet cause “official”. Oh, and no pro-choice plate, natch. (Too offensive to the tender, fetal ears of the Baptist mafia.) ---
**Author:** ![PinkMarabou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PinkMarabou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkMarabou)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/22 "2005-04-28T14:31:29Z")
According to the [ACLU Ohio’s website](http://www.acluohio.org/press_releases/2005%20press%20releases/2005.4.27.htm), concerning the case of the license plates, they have followed procedure as outlined in the case [here](http://www.acluohio.org/Motion%20for%20Prelim%20Inj%20-%2004.27.05.pdf) (warning: PDF file). > [@](#): > > Plaintiff NARAL Ohio, following the House vote, began the process of applying for a “Pro-Choice” License plate. NARAL Ohio contacted the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to inquire as to the appropriate procedure, collected the required minimum 1,000 signatures . . . petitioning for a “Pro-Choice” plate . . . > [@](#): > > Despite House Rules requiring the Chair to recognize all floor amendments, the Chair refused to recognize Rep. Beatty’s proposed amendment to SB 156 that would have created a “Pro-Choice” license plate. If you check out page 53 of that PDF document, you will see that the proposed “Pro-Choice” plates would, in similar fashion, have proceeds go to medically FACTUAL information about pregnancy options including adoption and abortion, the money will go to non-profit organizations to offer medically sound information about contraceptives. But they still refuse to hear it. So the Ohio House is definitely in the wrong here and hopefully the bill will be overturned due to unconstitutionality. I think the ACLU has a winning case here. Providing outlets for both sides or taking it away altogether should be the proper ruling on this. ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/23 "2005-04-28T16:46:42Z")
Hey Ohio! [Welcome to the Club!](http://66.195.16.55/state845.html) This message courtesy of your friends from South Carolina, where we only make the news when we do something outrightly racist, moronic, or just plain pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/24 "2005-04-28T16:51:58Z")
And as a matter of fact, one of our slightly more insane State Senators has filed [this bill](http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/350.htm), which is offered to placate the Pro-Choice side. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/25 "2005-04-28T17:16:09Z")
See when\* I \* see “Choose Life” I think of George Micheal’s t-shirt in the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” video, and Renton’s speech in _Trainspotting_. Abortion wouldn’t even cross my mind. But yep, Ohio doesn’t come out of this looking good. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/26 "2005-04-28T17:36:40Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > See when\* I \* see “Choose Life” I think of George Micheal’s t-shirt in the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” video, and Renton’s speech in _Trainspotting_. > > Abortion wouldn’t even cross my mind. You live in Ireland, though. In the US the word “life” is politically synonomous with “anti-abortion.” ---
**Author:** ![PinkMarabou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PinkMarabou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkMarabou)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/27 "2005-04-28T17:49:48Z")
> [@Wartime Consigliori](#): > > And as a matter of fact, one of our slightly more insane State Senators has filed [this bill](http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess116_2005-2006/bills/350.htm), which is offered to placate the Pro-Choice side. Holy shit! They are crazy there! From the link . . . > [@Article 54](#): > > From the fees collected, the Comptroller General shall place sufficient funds into a special restricted account to be used by the department to defray the expense of producing the license plate. The remaining funds shall be designated for use by the Department of Mental Health to be used for post abortion trauma counseling for females who have chosen to have abortions and the department may disburse a portion of these funds to local mental health facilities to use for such counseling. It’s more the “Choose Death” part that pisses me off. The grief counseling just gets a big, fat :rolleyes: . ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/28 "2005-04-28T18:01:33Z")
> [@PinkMarabou](#): > > Holy shit! They are crazy there! Bat-Shit Crazy, to be precise. You know, the sad thing is that after a while, one gets so tired of being outraged at this crap that all you can do is say to yourself, “Well- there they go again”. Gad, no wonder I drink. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/29 "2005-04-28T19:26:19Z")
> [@RTA](#): > > The most offensive quality of the Florida pro-life plate - and I see one pretty much every day - is that its color is virtually the same shade of yellow as “official vehicle” plates like those seen on cop cars and state vehicles etc. A subtle, yet clearly willful way to make that pet cause “official”. > > Oh, and no pro-choice plate, natch. (Too offensive to the tender, fetal ears of the Baptist mafia.) Oh, grow up. At least they use the money for a good cause. I heard that a percentage of the donation for each plate goes to groups that fight the death penalty, stop foreign wars where lots of civilans are killed and eliminate AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia. But I’m having a hard time finding a cite for any of that. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/30 "2005-04-28T20:18:01Z")
Maybe in Florida there will be a liscence plate supporting **Pull The Plug**. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA. Sorry. I shouldn’t encourage reality and politics to mix. Freedom of speech is an oxymoron. (Just sayin’) Don’t blame me, I Voted For Chtlutlu. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/31 "2005-04-28T20:30:31Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Oh, grow up. At least they use the money for a good cause. I heard that a percentage of the donation for each plate goes to groups that fight the death penalty, stop foreign wars where lots of civilans are killed and eliminate AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia. But I’m having a hard time finding a cite for any of that. The difficulty of finding a cite may indicate that what you have heard is, in fact, not true. From the [Choose Life, Inc.](http://www.choose-life.org/faq.html) website: > [@](#): > > Q. How is the Choose Life money used to help a woman committed to making an adoption plan for her child? > A. The Choose Life statute requires the use of 70 percent of the funds to provide for the material needs of pregnant women who are committed to placing their children for adoption, including clothing, housing, medical care, food, utilities, and transportation. Such funds may also be expended on infants awaiting placement with adoptive parents. ---
**Author:** ![monkeyfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@monkeyfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeyfist)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/32 "2005-04-29T00:16:55Z")
Nope, I agree with **ShibbOleth** , I think maybe some of the money from the choice life WILL go to support gun control and mandatory gun lock legislation, AIDs education in inner city’s (with a free condom distribution), and feeding the homeless downtown. I mean, that’s what they meant by choice life, right? :rolleyes: I’ll begin looking for that silly citation if you don’t believe me … ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/33 "2005-04-29T01:50:12Z")
**This Year’s Model** , those all do sound like worthwhile aims. I hope that all people who have the “Choose Life” tags are thinking about that and are not, in fact, just anti-choice bigots intent in mucking in other people’s lives to satisfy their own religious zealotry. FWIW, to me the term “Pro Life” is a big lie; we should be more direct and call it “Anti-abortion”. I’ve not found many people who are truly “pro life” in all it’s various connotations. Maybe some Buddhists and a few minor Christian sects. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/34 "2005-04-29T01:57:35Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > **This Year’s Model** , those all do sound like worthwhile aims. I hope that all people who have the “Choose Life” tags are thinking about that and are not, in fact, just anti-choice bigots intent in mucking in other people’s lives to satisfy their own religious zealotry. No, I agree completely. If a woman chooses to carry the baby and give it up for adoption (two of my sisters have done just that), and the money from the plates goes to assist them, I think that’s wonderful! I also agree with your concern about it. I just wanted to point out that if people are telling you the money is going to the other things you mentioned, they’re wrong. Or am I, in fact, wooshed? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/35 "2005-04-29T02:10:07Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > I just wanted to point out that if people are telling you the money is going to the other things you mentioned, they’re wrong. Or am I, in fact, wooshed? It would be the second, I fear. And good for your sisters. My baby sister has a daughter that she chose to have and raise on her own and in the end this was certainly the right choice for her. But I’d hate to live in a place where that was her only choice. It’s not been the easiest life, and without a lot of help from family I don’t know how she would have managed. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/36 "2005-04-29T02:21:03Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Misapprehension #3: The refusal to issue a license plate design is some kind of restriction on the principle of free speech or the First Amendment. Ass-hatted and biased, yes, but not really a restriction. > > Stranger Absolutely it is a restriction. If you establish a forum for free speech, such as ‘issue’ license plates, the First Amendment requires you to be neutral as to the message presented. Disallowing a pro-choice plate is not in itself a restriction on free speech, disallowing it once you have allowed a pro-life one is, however. In fact, you can argue that disallowing it when you have allowed any ‘issue’ plate is. When they tried this in Tennessee it caused a lot of people to look at the legality of the program after all. Any restrictions on messages have to be neutrally based in order to pass muster (the requirement of a certain number of signatures appears to be neutral, for example). But it looks like it would be tough to allow, for example, a ‘Racial Harmony’ plate without also permitting the Klan to have one, unless they could not meet the neutral requirements. In the end, my guess is the only way to satisfy the First Amendment and avoid such plates (if one wants to avoid them) is to disallow ALL of these plates. Personally I’d allow any group that can meet the requirements to get its own plate. At least then you can know which of your neighbors you need to snub. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/37 "2005-04-29T02:40:41Z")
“Choose Death” would be awesome. I’d buy one of those. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/38 "2005-04-29T12:22:28Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Absolutely it is a restriction. If you establish a forum for free speech, such as ‘issue’ license plates, the First Amendment requires you to be neutral as to the message presented. Disallowing a pro-choice plate is not in itself a restriction on free speech, disallowing it once you have allowed a pro-life one is, however. In fact, you can argue that disallowing it when you have allowed any ‘issue’ plate is. It may turn out to be more of a mandate and less of a free-speech issue here in Florida. On the news this morning there was mention of a 13 year old girl who had tried to get an abortion but was not being allowed to do so by Bush or DCF, because she was “too young” to make her own medical decisions. I can’t find anything to cite on this yet, and the radio is not the most exact form of communication, so I hope that I’m misunderstanding something here. But this has the potential to turn into Schiavo AND Gonzalez all wrapped into one. ---
**Author:** ![PinkMarabou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PinkMarabou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkMarabou)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/39 "2005-04-29T12:27:17Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > “Choose Death” would be awesome. > > I’d buy one of those. yeah, I think I’d get one just to be an ass. But going off of **Shirly Ujest’s** idea, we could have a feeding tube on it!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431/40 "2005-04-29T13:01:55Z")
And the “Choose Death” color scheme could be black letters on a black background. It would look awesome! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-life-license-plates-ohio/301431.md?page=3)