‘Controversial’ pro-life plates now available

By Joyce Coronel | May 21, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

It took years of litigation, but Arizona drivers can now purchase pro-life themed license plates for their cars.

The Arizona License Plate Commission unanimously approved Arizona Life Coalition’s application for the “Choose Life” license plates back in January, but only after having turned it down six years ago.

Deborah Shesby, an attorney with the Center for Arizona Policy who helped litigate the case, said that the coalition had complied with all of the state requirements for the specialty plates, but its application was originally denied.

“When we went to the commission, they said [the theme] was a controversial message and ‘we don’t want it,’” Shesby said. Arizona Life Coalition took its case to the federal district court, which sided with the commission.

Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and CAP took the case to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the commission’s denial of the license plate application discriminatory.

Shesby said that for the state commission to set out requirements — which the Arizona Life Coalition met — and then deny the application was clearly unfair.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix was pleased with the outcome and now has one of the license plates on his car.

“I think that the pro-life license plates are an easy way to show publicly our commitment to protecting all human life from the moment of conception,” said Bishop Olmsted, adding that the plates may cause people to think about the life issues.

The license plates cost $25, with a portion of the fee going to the Arizona Life Coalition. Member organizations of the coalition include Arizona Right to Life, the Arizona Catholic Conference, Maggie’s Place and the Crisis Pregnancy Centers of Phoenix and Tucson.