I suppose this great victory for “free speech” according to the ACLU banning “Choose Life” license plates in North Carolina drives home the point that people have no rights until birth. On the other hand, let’s allow the distribution of “reproductive freedom” license plates: the lines are being drawn in the sand and this helps clarify the delineation. Or even more to the point, the other side can “Choose Death” license plates under their free health care managed life policy.
David DeGerolamo
Judge finds NC ‘Choose Life’ plates unconstitutional
RALEIGH, N.C. — A federal judge has ruled that North Carolina’s decision to issue special anti-abortion license plates is unconstitutional because the state doesn’t offer similar plates supporting abortion rights.
U.S. District Court Judge James Fox ruled on Friday that the state’s attempt to offer only the “Choose Life” plates represents “viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”
Fox last year blocked the state from issuing the plates while a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union was pending. The ACLU said the state also should offer a license plate supporting a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.
“This is a great victory for the free speech rights of all North Carolinians, regardless of their point of view on reproductive freedom,” Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU’s North Carolina Legal Foundation, said in a statement. “The government cannot create an avenue of expression for one side of a contentious political issue while denying an equal opportunity to citizens with the opposite view.”
