Tennessee Choose Life Plate Supporters Launch New Phone Campaign
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 5, 2003
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) — Tennessee’s statewide pro-life group must meet a July 2004 deadline of obtaining 1,000 people willing to purchase the Choose Life license plates for them to go forward. To meet the goal, Tennessee Right to Life has enlisted the help of a pro-life state Senator to make calls to potential buyers.
State Senator Jim Bryson is lending his voice to the telephone campaign to raise awareness and support for the pro-life plates. Bryson sponsored the plates in the state legislature.
”They asked me to do the voice-over so they could let people know that the Choose Life license plate has been passed,” Bryson told the Tennessean newspaper. ”Although the governor did not sign the bill, it went into law and people can sign up to get a Choose Life license plate.”
Pro-abortion Gov. Gov. Phil Bredesen let the legislation become law in June without his signature.
One the plate sales reach the 1,000 mark, they can be manufactured.
Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, told LifeNews.com in August that, contrary to predictions by pro-abortion groups, orders for Choose Life license plates in Tennessee are coming in at a rapid rate and ahead of schedule
"We’re well on our way to meeting our goal and are pleased with the positive response so far," Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, said. "We fully expect to present the needed applications — and more — before the state’s deadline."
Sales of the plate benefit New Life Resources, which will in turn dole out funds to crisis pregnancy centers across the state. The group is an outreach of Tennessee Right to Life and provides resources to women and families facing difficult pregnancies.
The pro-abortion ACLU is still considering a lawsuit to prevent the plates from being distributed. ACLU state Director Hedy Weinberg claims the plates violate the separation of church and state.
In his phone message to pro-life households, Bryson calls the Choose Life plate the "latest battle in the effort to protect the right to life of the unborn in our state."
The Tennessee House approved the plate 80-14 and it passed 28-0 in the Senate despite heated opposition from pro-abortion legislators and groups.
Plate applications are available by calling toll free 1-877-CHOOSE LIFE (1-877-246-6735) or by email at [email protected].
