Pro-abortion license plates approved for VA but with a surprising twist!!

Updated: Tuesday, 16 Feb 2010, 4:26 PM EST


AP: Published : Wednesday, 17 Feb 2010, 12:25 AM EST

RICHMOND, Va. - The House and Senate have passed bills to create an abortion-rights license plate, but the GOP-controlled House balked at sending proceeds to an organization that performs the procedures.
The Senate voted 26-8 to create the "Trust Women/Respect Choice" plates. After the first 1,000 plates are sold, $15 from each $25 plate would go to Planned Parenthood.The House voted 77-22 for the plate, but it diverted the proceeds to an unused fund that supports women with unplanned pregnancies.
This is so rich......the funds will go to help women in unplanned pregnancy....not to kill their babies but  for The Virginia Pregnant Women Support Fund  which was created in 2007 to "support women and families who are facing unplanned pregnancy" and is managed by the Board of Health. A brainchild of Senator Phil Puckett (D-38, Tazewell) and Delegate Ward Armstrong (D-10, Martinsville), the overarching goals of the fund are to provide funding for ultrasound machines, parenting programs, domestic violence/sexual assault education, vocational/academic support, and free home visits by nurses.

As required by law, Planned Parenthood has presold more than 350 of the plates. What! In TN you need to presell 1500 plates before they will begin production.

If the funds don't go to Planned Parenthood, supporters warned it could set up a constitutional challenge because Virginia last year passed a "Choose Life" plate and courts have said states can't favor one viewpoint over another.
What's their problem...they get their plate and get to help women, I thought that is what they were all about.

Bumper Battle in VA

 I am posting the TN Choose Life plate because IMHO it is the best choose life plate out there. The interesting thing about this story is  that in the four states that did pass a pro choice plate....it is not selling well and is being threatened to be discontinued as in HI due to lack of interest. In TN, it was quite a struggle to get our plate even after the lawsuit from PP and ACLU went all the way to the Supreme Ct. is selling very well. It is now in the top 10. As of September it is 7th.

DENA POTTER Associated Press Writer

February 8, 2010 | 12:06 p.m.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Abortion-rights advocates have been unable to halt the "Choose Life" license plate variations in nearly two-dozen states, so now they're working to balance the bumper debate.

Activists are pushing a "Trust Women/Respect Choice" license plate in Virginia, which would become only the fourth state to offer a pro-choice plate and the first to require legislative approval for it. Supporters have threatened to sue if lawmakers don't give drivers the option.

"We really don't feel like a license plate is the place to be promoting a political agenda," said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. "However, the pro-choice community feels like they're being taken on by the anti-choice side with this license plate, and we feel like we need to get involved."

Opponents, including the state's attorney general and governor, say they oppose diverting money from plate fees to Planned Parenthood offices — not necessarily the plates themselves.

A state Senate committee heard testimony on the bill Thursday and could vote on it this week. The full legislature's approval and the governor's signature are needed for the plates to be sold.

Last year, Virginia became the 23rd state to approve the "Choose Life" plate. The plates should be on the roads in Massachusetts, Delaware and North Dakota by the end of March, and efforts are under way in a dozen other states to get them approved, said Russ Amerling, a coordinator for the Florida-based Choose Life, Inc., which promotes the plates.

Nationwide, more than 520,000 of the plates have been sold since 2000, raising more than $11 million for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, adoption services and maternity homes.

Those on the other side of the debate have yet to mount a coordinated response. Even in states where the plate is offered, it hasn't sold well, though at least 400 people have signed up to buy the pro-choice plates in Virginia.

Hawaii was first with a "Respect Choice" decal for plates in 2003, but lack of interest is threatening to halt its availability. A "Pro-family, Pro-choice" plate is available in Montana, and Pennsylvania has a Planned Parenthood labeled plate. However, only 22 of those are active.