Illinois Judge Approves Issuance of "Choose Life" License Plates

A group called Choose Life Illinois, Inc., lobbied for years to obtain legislative approval for the state to offer citizens license plates displaying the motto, "Choose Life." After years of failed attempts, the group finally decided in 2004 to file suit against state officials.

U.S. District Court Judge David H. Coar ruled Monday that the message "Choose Life" is protected by the First Amendment, and he ordered state officials to begin offering the licenses to motorists. Although most people believe the message to be a criticism of abortion, Coar said in his opinion that he assumed the request for the specialty plate was driven by a genuine interest in promoting the idea of adoption. The members of Choose Life Illinois are primarily advocates of adoption.

But no matter what the intent of the message is, Coar said, the right to freedom of speech means the state must offer the plates, as long as the sponsors of the idea can meet the design and numerical requirements mandated by the motor vehicles department.

"Choose Life" license plates have been approved and issued in about a dozen states across the country. In some cases, the legislatures that approved of them have rejected proposals submitted by abortion rights advocates who wanted the states to offer license plates supporting their opposing viewpoint. Federal appeals courts have not ruled consistently on the subject, and the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear appeals on the issue.

Former Republican state Sen. Patrick O’Malley, who was a sponsor of the proposal, told a reporter Monday that to him it makes no difference if a license plate saying "Choose Life" does convey an anti-abortion message. "Does that make it bad?" O’Malley said. "Whether it is or it isn’t, you should still be allowed to express yourself."

Democratic state Rep. Lou Lang told reporters that in his opinion, the "Choose Life" message is obviously a campaign to ban abortions. "The anti-choice folks will look for any edge they can find to push their agenda," Lang said.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office plans to appeal Coar’s decision. The office, which already issues 60 different designs of specialty plates to motorists in Illinois, says that a single judge’s ruling isn’t enough and there must be legislative approval before they can issue any type of specialty plate, no matter what its message is. According to spokesman David Druker, "We have no opinion on the message."