Background

In recent years, a number of states have established specialty “Choose Life” license plates. The plates cost anywhere between $25 and $70 on top of standard fees. In some cases, money generated from their sale directly supports the activities of antichoice organizations or crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which often provide biased and medically inaccurate counseling to women seeking a pregnancy test or counseling for an unintended pregnancy. In other cases, the funding goes to organizations that provide services related to adoption. Many of the states with “Choose Life” license plates explicitly prohibit organizations that offer a full range of services, including abortion counseling or referral, from receiving the funds. Reproductive health activists have challenged some of these policies, arguing that it is unconstitutional for a state to endorse one political viewpoint over another, and that the funding of agencies affiliated with churches or religious organizations amounts to establishment of religion.

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