How the “Choose Life” speciality license plate conquered the U.S.
There are 34 states that allow speciality “Choose Life” license plates, and 19 allow a portion of the proceeds from the plate to go to groups opposed to abortion
Should the Supreme Court go forward with striking down Roe v. Wade, more than two dozen states could ban abortion. Anti-abortion activists have been preparing for this possibility for years, and their efforts extend to speciality license plates.
There are 34 states that allow speciality “Choose Life” license plates, according to the Guttmacher Institute, and 19 allow a portion of the proceeds from the plate to go to groups opposed to abortion.
Florida approved the first “Choose Life” plate in 2000, according to the group Choose Life America, and since then, the group has helped introduce the plate in other states. Conservative strongholds like Alabama and Texas have their own versions, but the specialty plates have also popped up in Delaware, Hawaii, and New Jersey. They often feature a child-style drawing of kids, but others show images of babies, baby footprints, or parents with kids.
These plates sometimes face opposition. Then-Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee vetoed a “Choose Life” plate in 2013 because it would have raised money for a Christian pregnancy center, which he said would have violated the separation of church and state. Another plate was vetoed in Michigan in 2017.
That same year, Nebraska approved a Planned Parenthood “My Body My Choice” plate, a rare specialty plate in support of abortion rights, though all the fees from plate go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and Highway Trust Fund, and not Planned Parenthood, according to the Nebraska DMV.
How popular are these plates? At least in Florida, “Choose Life” is the 27th most popular specialty plate, and it can be found on 19,292 vehicles, per Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. For comparison, the No. 1 specialty plate in Florida is “Endless Summer,” on 110,139 vehicles, followed by “Helping Sea Turtles Survive,” on 98,123 vehicles.