FLORIDA BEGINS PRODUCTION OF "CHOOSE LIFE" LICENSE PLATE

By Dave Andrusko

A pro-adoption "Choose Life" license tag, the center of a two-year battle in Florida, is at last in production, thanks to a determined campaign by local pro-lifers and pro-life Gov. Jeb Bush (R).

At first glance a yellow plate with a childlike crayon drawing of two children's smiling faces might not seem much of a threat. But Florida pro-abortion forces, including NOW, have made stopping its introduction a high priority.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported that opponents "contend the design violates the separation of church and state by applying a biblical quotation to a state-sanctioned tag: '...choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live' is found in Deuteronomy 30:19."

Gov. Bush saw it otherwise. "It's a pretty tag, and it says 'Choose Life,' and it's for adoption," he told reporters. "If people want to politicize that, they'll politicize anything."

The tag was first approved in 1998, but vetoed by pro-abortion Gov. Lawton Chiles, who associated it with opposition to abortion. When campaigning for governor in 1998, Bush said he would sign such a bill.

On November 23, Bush's cabinet approved the license plate 5-2. Production was held up for one day out of fear that a suit filed by NOW would result in an injunction, according to Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Janet Dennis.

But Dennis explained that department attorneys decided such a decision was not likely to come soon and that those in the cabinet who favored the license plate told the department to go ahead. The tag should be available in February, assuming there are no more delays.

Florida already offers 43 speciality plates along with two more recently approved plates which will go on sale soon. Eight carry environmental messages such as "Save the Manatee," while others promote college and professional sports, to name just a few categories.

Florida drivers will pay an extra $20 for the "Choose Life" license plate. The proceeds will be split proportionately among the counties where tags are sold. Local officials will distribute the money to private nonprofit groups set up [in the words of the bill] for "counseling and meeting the physical needs of pregnant women who are committed to placing their children for adoption."