Roundup: Baby You Can Drive My Car (But Not In Newton or Wellesley)

Jun 21, 2010, 9:32am

Massachusetts is debuting "Choose Life" license plates, and some are afraid of the "pro-choice nuts" possible retribution. Plus, a follow up on Friday's mini-roundup.

The state of Massachusetts has become the latest to consider adopting license plates to prove you are against a woman’s right to reproductive justice. Much like the over 20 states that have created these plates, funds will be dedicated to crisis pregnancy centers in the state, regardless of the fact that they often mislead or lie outright to their clients.

Via WCVB in Boston:

The Choose Life plate will generate dollars for groups that want pregnant women to avoid abortion. Merry Nordeen spent years making it a reality.

“It goes to not-for-profit agencies that promote the life-saving option of life, adoption and safe havens,” Nordeen said.

The plates, which will cost drivers $90 every two years, become one of 18 others in Massachusetts that both publicize and providing funding for charitable causes.

But critics worry about where the funds go.

“These plates create a tool to fundraise for so-called pregnancy crisis centers, which have been proven to provide false, misleading and medically inaccurate information to pregnant women,” said Andrea Miller, of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

“I’ve heard from women that have been helped by those organizations that are very grateful for those organizations. Because they’re not for profit, they really do need the money. More money means help more women, and that’s our aim,” Nordeen said.

…

“Our goal right now is really to focus on where we can find common ground and that should be about looking at those programs and policies that can improve the chances of preventing unintended pregnancy in the first place,” Miller said.

Not sure if you want a plate or not? Would it change your mind to know that this endeavor has God’s stamp of approval, according to the plates’ sponsor? From Masslive.com:

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles is set to offer a “Choose Life” plate sponsored by the anti-abortion organization Massachusetts Choose Life, Inc. The plate’s design features a yellow heart behind an image of a mother holding a child.

..

Merry Nordeen, 47, began campaigning for the Massachusetts plates in 2003.

“I prayed really hard for this — I prayed for seven years, and God didn’t disappoint me,” Nordeen, a secretary at St. Joseph Parish in Wakefield, told the Boston Globe.

Ironically, even the pro-life supporters in the state are a little worried about the idea of protest via license plate. As Dennis Shaughnessey writes in the Valley Dispatch:

I’m not ashamed of my pro-life stance and it’s not that I’m balking at the $40 fee for a Massachusetts specialty plate. I’m just worried about the fallout. I can foresee the cases of road rage that such a license plate can evoke. Imagine driving down Route 128 at 70 mph and some pro-choice nut driving behind you spots your Choose Life license plate. There are certain communities from which I would steer clear if I had a Choose Life license plate on my car. Bad enough that I have a Christian fish on my car.

I’d probably stay out of towns like Provincetown, which recently approved the distribution of condoms to students, regardless of their age. I’d stay out of Brookline, a bastion for liberal forelock-tuggers and I’d probably drive all the way around Newton and Wellesley.

…

To say that the Choose Life specialty plates has enflamed the abortion rights issue is an understatement. How long until the American Civil Liberties Union gets involved? Nothing about this plate is going to reverse Roe vs. Wade. Nothing about this plate is going to change anyone’s mind on the subject.

Mini Roundup: Followup Monday — last Friday we learned that an anti-choice protester in San Antonio was charged with a FACE violation, and a Planned Parenthood instructor in Iowa was accused of “contributing to the delinquency of minors” with her sex ed class. Today, read an interview with the protester, who claims the allegation are all false, an a rebuttle from the Iowa instructor, who allegedly didn’t say most of what the students’ parents said she did.

June 18, 2010

Congress, Obama, and Taxpayer Funding of Abortion – National Review Online

Massachusetts “Choose Life” plate gives drivers new mouthpiece in abortion debate – MassLive.com

FDA Panel Recommends Approval Of ellaOne Morning-after Contraceptive Pill – TimesNewsline.com

Health Policy Research – Kaiser Health News

After Stupak, Abortion Advoactes Consider Reframing the Issue – Campus Progress

Mitch Daniels Walks Back Opposition to Pro-Life Policy, Keeps Abortion Truce – LifeNews.com

Anti Abortion Right to Life vanity plates: DMV offers Choose Life plates – Examiner.com

Feds sue abortion protester under little-used law – Houston Chronicle

Petition Asks Obama Administration to Not Approve New Abortion Drug Ella – LifeNews.com

The abortion debate needs to include the forgotten fathers – Christian Science Monitor

A PRO-LIFE LICENSE PLATE? THAT’S ASKING FOR TROUBLE – Valley Dispatch