 |
|
|
|
December 11th, 2012
01:13 AM ET
'Choose Life' license plates ruled unconstitutional in North CarolinaBy Joe Sutton, CNN (CNN) - A federal judge ruled that North Carolina's new "Choose Life" license plates are unconstitutional because the state does not offer a pro-choice alternative. "The State's offering a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice alternative constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment," U.S. District Court Judge James Fox wrote in the ruling Friday. The ruling was praised by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had filed a lawsuit in 2011 to stop the specialty plates. "This is a great victory for the free speech rights of all North Carolinians, regardless of their point of view on reproductive freedom," said Chris Brook of the ACLU. "The government cannot create an avenue of expression for one side of a contentious political issue while denying an equal opportunity to citizens with the opposite view." Republican state Rep. Mitch Gillespie, who sponsored the bill for the "Choose Life" plates, said he would push for an appeal of the judge's decision, CNN affiliate WRAL reported. The bill for the license plates passed in 2011, and the legislation also mandated that money raised from the sale of the specialty plates would go to a nonprofit that supports crisis pregnancy centers, WRAL reported. During the fight to get the bill passed, North Carolina lawmakers voted down amendments that would have created pro-choice alternatives such as "Trust Women. Respect Choice," the affiliate reported. The "Choose Life" plates are available in 29 states, according to Choose Life Inc., a nonprofit that helps states that want to sell these specialty plates. soundoff (3,213 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Next »
« Previous entryNew Mormon site reaches out to gays
|
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
|
|
|
I have no problems with the state offering Pro Life plates as long as they offer Pro Choice also. Just like I have no problems with high schools teaching the theory of evolution along side the theory of creationism.
In what class? There is no theory of creationism except in religion classes, which public schools can't teach.
I think you need to look up what the scientific definition of theory is.
I'll give you a hint, it is not a synonym for hypothesis.
will: they can in comparative religion classes
They can get around it – by simply offering a license plate that says – murder a unborn child and then show an aborted fetus. That would be the other viewpoint I guess. I don't have a problem with people have a choice – up to the first trimester – but in general the people who claim to support choice – only want to discuss abortions and NOT life.
Wrong. Pro-choice people want to discuss the LIFE of the mother and other children that might be born later BECAUSE of planned parenthood.
Guess again.
it's not murder according to the law of the land
Like my sibling found out, there might not BE another child. They were talked into opting for a later child that never came, when they could have just gotten married a little sooner. They were never able to have a baby after choosing.....poorly. Sterility is a risk they did not publicize much.
Abortion is the 5th leading cause of maternal death according to a 1997 study from Finland. a 2-3% risk of perforating the uterus. 48 % risk of the abortion causing problems with subsequent pregnancies. There is also a 800% increase in breast cancer if you have an abortion before 18. Plus women choosing abortion carry a 60% higher risk of death from natural causes within a year than women who carry to full term.
It really looks like adoption would be a safer option that could also benefit infertile or gay couples. Just the increase in prematurity we have from this alone has extreme consequences that makes abortion a non viable solution. Costly in NICU admissions & in permanently disabled children.
That is so untrue. To be pro-choice, is to make the life of the mother paramount. This is especially true in the case of teenage girls. We don't need more babies in this world. What we need are more responsible parents. Parents who want to take the time, embrace the responsibility, and have the resources to r a child to become a contributing member of society. This responsibility should never be the result of coercion or punishment or guilt.
So, is the solution to have 2 license plates – would that be acceptable?
One that says "Choose Life" with pictures of happy, smiling children.
And the other that says "Choose Death" and a picture of a dead fetus.
Would that do it? Level playing field then, right?
or how about a "Choose LIfe" tag with an old man with missing teeth and a "Choose Death" tag with a tortured and murdered unwanted child?
I think we should have license numbers on license plates. And a stupid state mottos like, "Oklahoma is OK!" or "The Show Me State".
You obviously cannot or refuse to read out of willful ignorance.
"Trust Women. Respect Choice," - it's right there in the article, now isn't it?
you must be new here, moronchecker.
So, Observer, are you saying that the old man with some missing teeth should have been killed in the womb so that he didn't have to suffer the torture of missing teeth? And of course, killing the abused child would have prevented the abuse. Yeah, maybe you're on too something. Hey, does your teeth hurt?
God has you in his book. He has a plan for each of us. He knows when you will be born and when you will die.
He is therefore responsible for all death, murder and destruction for all of history including every abortion ever performed, every rape, every murder, every miscarriage, every atrocity.
He is perfect. He is omniscient. He is omnipotent. So how could this not be so? It is God’s will.
This God fellow you speak of sounds like a real &^$(*&!
I applaud the North Carolina Federal Court for its ruling on this issue: This case was largely about about the State's violation of Free Speech. It chose to impose ONE viewpoint, while suppressing the other (NC lawmakers struck down the idea of having pro-choise plates as well). The issue also extends beyond just speech. Because the controversy behind abortion is largely a religious issue, by allowing one license plate, and not another, the state imposes its own religious viewpoints on its own citizens. North Carolina, you wanted to dodge this bullet, a bumper sticker would have sufficed.
**** North Carolina, IF you wanted to dodge this bullet, a bumper sticker would have sufficed.
Concur in every way possible.
[Nelson Voice] Ha, ha!
gotta love nelson
The only thing offensive about this plate is that it looks like it was designed by a four year old on MS Paint.
Sincerely,
One NC driver who believes that expressing opinions via license plates is pretty stupid, no matter the cause.
it was
Why are old men obsessed with the se'x lives of young women ? Creepy.
I know, check with pop. He seems pretty obsessed!
My wife is 20 years my junior...what do you want me to do, not care?
The only way to allow people to post their political or economic or social or religious views on license plates would be to allow every person to construct their very own 100% customized license plate. A completely nutty idea.
As 'Rickey H' has previously noted in this forum, the purpose of a license plate is not a forum for free speech. If this were allowed, a logical extension would be that I would like to embed a message in my driver's license number, and next, in my social security number. In this way lies madness.
I remember a doctor in New York cutting the spinal cords of new born children after they were born.
and....
Alright, cruelty to children. Horrific. But what does that have to do with a state allowing anti-abortion license plate, but refusing to allow an alternate opinion on the matter?
Does not the word "CHOOSE" imply choice? What should they put? "Choose Life, or choose to kill your baby?"
"Choose Life" implies and encourages a PARTICULAR choice, that choice being the avoidance of abortion. When a state not only sponsors and profits from such opinions, but refuses to provide an alternative license plate reflecting an opposing opinion, that state has overstepped the line that prevents states from directly funding, supporting, and pushing a particular viewpoint, while suppressing and/or refusing to allow similar expression of another.
Again, leave vehicular free speech to the bumper stickers.
So by your logic, you'd be ok if the plate said, "Choose Abortion"?
It is emphasizing choice, after all....
What a load of crap. It's censorship at its most petty, and will only galvanize support for the pro-life cause.
Freedom and equality is a load of crap? Perhaps you would enjoy living in Iran or N Korea?
If that is censorship, then what do you call the representatives voting down amendments to permit pro-choice nameplates? THAT is censorship. THAT is what got this stricken down.
Don't whine about censorship when YOUR guys started it.
And the law makers voting down the alternative plates wasn't suppression of free speech? If you want to smite one side, you must smite the other as well.
Also, there is NO SUCH THING as free speech when it comes to government or assumed governmental support of any religion based belief. People want to throw out the the American money has "In God We Trust" on it. Well which God? The Christians automatically assume that it is their God. Well I automatically assume that it is MY God (non-christian). It is ambiguous enough that should Christianity fail, and another faith with a God comes to the forefront, we wouldn't have to change the slogan. It would still be applicable.
As for this obscenely biased license plate, it is an overt and OBVIOUS support for pro-life politics. These women's crisis centers that are supported... they only receive the support IF they are 100% anti-abortion. If they even hint at the need for an abortion, or are reported hinting at it, they immediately lose their funding. Most wouldn't though as they are controlled by churches (look at that, you buy a specific license plate and you are automatically paying into a Church organization, through the STATE!).
what about a license plate that says
CHOOSE POOP
POOP (People Opposed to Obnoxious Plates)
Sign me up.
Do i know you?
This is North Carolina,.....THROW POOP is more like it.
Best response yet! LOL
the reality is that abortion = the killing of human life...
if you want to believe this is ok. that is your freedom of choice...
this will not help you in any way or form. you can believe what you want, heck you can even believe the sun isn't going to come up tommorow morning...
but it will,
the fact is, a fetus is a human, small in size. If you want to support the murdering of the fetus, then this is on your hands alone.
Yes, and an egg and a a chicken are the same thing to you.
fertalized one, yes sir...
Its hard to sway liberals, when those people dont know what "values" are.
Most women use Plan B. Abortion would be unnecessary if you idiots allowed decent s'ex ed in the schools. YOU cannot tell us when exactly human life begins.
pop,
I'm not really surprised that you can't tell the difference.
I like Eggths....I loves thum. I love thum hard boiled, poach, over easy, scrambult. thunny side up. I loves eggths...
how about when a baby can move it's hands???
still not alive?, because they are aborted at all stages my friend..
where do 'you' draw the line... I draw the line from the very earliest stages...
pop, I draw the line with people who don't mind there own business. You don't have to agree with it. If you don't like it don't do it. The lives of women and men with an unwanted pregnancy is none of your business. None. Zero. Bug off.
You're right abortion is murder. So should we start dropping off orphans at your place? The death penalty is murder as well, are you for that? I love how so many people who say abortion is murder are simultaneously in support of capital punishment. Maybe not you, but perhaps you can elucidate. The bottom line is, the taking of another life, whether it's abortion, capital punishment, the killing of enemy combatants, etc. is all murder. You either sanction murder for various reasons, or you don't. The only people who are really consistent in this regard are true pacifists and Gandhians. Everyone else (me included) are inconsistent. I believe that abortion is tragic but necessary murder, just like the death penalty, just like killing Osama Bin Laden etc. Sometimes, it's better just to kill those you don't want around.
Abortion stops a beating heart.
And I'm glad.
More trees. Less people.
We can't help the willfully ignorant, and you pop, are beyond help.
Of abortions are wrong, then why does god abort MILLIONS every year?
Your god is a murderer by your own illogical and distorted definition.
so your classing babies in the same 'neccesary' evil as osama bin laden and people of the death penalty???
more trees less people......????
you know that going vegetarian saves more trees then any child will use up mate... even al gore and obama admit that the vegetarian lifestyle is the single most effective way of saving trees.
That is your personal belief, but frankly it isn't supported by mans law. And as your God has yet to reveal himself to the world as the ultimate authority, well I'll stick with man's law and you can keep your God out of it. Thank you for your insightful, but completely meaningless input.
Actually, you've got it backwards. The reality is that restricting access to safe, legal abortions is killing human life. Mothers' lives. Childrens' lives (the existing and future children of pregnant women denied abortions). Pregnancy is a huge medical risk women take in order to bring children into this world, but not every pregnancy is healthy enough to produce a child, nor is every pregnant mother equipped to handle the pregnancy and/or the results thereof. One more child could mean one or two of her existing children starve to death while she attempts to feed the youngest. A special needs child could mean no money for educating existing children. An unhealthy pregnancy could mean destroying her uterus so she can't have any more children. To me, "choose life" IS pro-choice, because the statistics say anti-abortion = more death. Mothers seeking abortions will get them regardless of the laws, but where the abortions are legal, they are safe and more likely to result in living women, existing, and future children.
it's not murder according to the law of the land, pops
we all have our opinions, why limit them to just one?
when is the death of a young one an oppinion???
it's heinous... have you seen an aborted baby?, I suggest you do one day, you will not sleep right for many weeks after.... it's heinous.
Pop,
Ever see pictures of an unwanted child that has been tortured and murdered?
observer, yes,
i've seen aborted babies my friend, aborted because they were unwanted...
before this I was of a different oppinion as well... it was very eye opening
same as when I became vegetarian after visiting a slaughter house... when you see the reality of the situation you have a change of heart... believe me...
Those are my convictions, and if you don't like them, I have others.
@observer
Ever heard of adoption? No I guess you havent
Observer..
if you have seen in person an aborted baby...
and a visit to a slaughter house.....
then come back and talk to me... until then alls you are doing is sticking up for stickers and words that you have no real understanding of.
it's a lot heavier then you might think.
Many miscarriages can be pretty heinous too. Stop with the drama.
Where,
There are 10's of thousands of kids up for adoption today. How many will you take?
If we forced another million UNWANTED kids into society each year, we will have major problems socially and economically.
No one likes abortion, but each mother's situation is different. Let them decide.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/14/world/europe/ireland-abortion-controversy/index.html
God damn atheists! I bet they ban my "God Told Me To Stone My Mouthy Teenager To Death, And I DID!" Deutronomy license plates.
What is the world coming to?
LOL. Well the company that makes those plates evidently also sells "Army of God" neckties.
Don't the people of NC have a choice whether or not to put one of those plates on their vehicles?
Not any more.
Yes, just like they have a choice as to whether or not the church sign says "Obey God, not Man" or they have a choice as to what exactly the Sunday School class they won't be attending will be about how they are living in sin, or hey have a choice about the next mega-church being built in their back yard, or they have any other choice than to let the churches cram their filth down everyone's throats through political action and oppression of free speech.
Way to go, Judge. That sort of thing has no place on a license plate in any case. Just get a bumper sticker.
Ah NC the proud home of Jesse Helms...need I say more.
Also the first in flight. You're welcome.
The Wright Brothers weren't from NC; the brains came from somewhere else. And they had the good sense to go back when they were done.
Pro abortion? It's too bad your parents didn't follow through with that.
Where,
It's possible that you are alive ONLY because of planned parenthood in your family's past.
Get real.
Obviously don't have young ones of your own Observer???,
Pop.
I am PRO-CHOICE. I would have a tough time if someone in my family needed an abortion, but I don't have the right to judge someone else's situations and make a ruling for them. NEITHER DO YOU.
YOU are "pro-abortion" if things get bad enough so get real.