Georgia Residents Will Vote on Choose Life License Plate in Election

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 27, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Georgia Residents Will Vote on Choose Life License Plate in Election Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 27
, 2006

Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) — Georgia voters next month will do more than select the names of candidates for various political offices. They will have an opportunity to vote on whether or not the state should have Choose Life license plates that would benefit the work of groups that help women find abortion alternatives.

Georgia is the only state in the nation that requires a constitutional amendment to share revenue from specialty plates with non-profit groups.

As a result, state voters will decided on an amendment to the constitution, listed as Constitutional Amendment #3 on the ballot, to allow the Choose Life plates.

The Choose Life specialty tag will provide funds to agencies that counsel for adoption and is similar to plates in other states that have raised millions to help promote adoptions and abortion alternatives.

The amendment is a result of a bill approved by the state legislature and ultimately signed by pro-life Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The amendment will likely be approved by voters, if only because it also allows the sale of 27 other specialty plates for various causes, educational institutions and sports teams.

Georgia Right to Life worked for passage of the bills to authorize the Choose Life plate and has encouraged voted to back the amendment on the ballot next month.

Once the constitutional amendment is approved, Choose Life tags will go on sale in January. Before the tag is produced, 1000 tags must be sold by January 1, 2008 to qualify the plate for final approval.

The Supreme Court has refused to hear a pro-abortion group’s challenge to Choose Life plates in Tennessee and Louisiana and a pro-life appeal of a decision against the plates in South Carolina.

In the South Carolina case, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plates violated the free speech rights of pro-abortion South Carolina residents, who don’t have a pro-abortion plate to purchase.

Choose Life license plates are now on the road in Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, South Dakota, and Montana.

Only Montana and Hawaii have pro-abortion license plates, and in Hawaii abortion advocates use stickers instead.

Related web sites:
Georgia Right to Life – https://www.grtl.org
Choose Life, Inc. – https://www.choose-life.org