Subject: Judge Throws Out Case Against FL Choose Life Plates
Source: Associated Press; November 21, 2001

Judge Throws Out Case Against FL Choose Life Plates

Tallahassee, FL -- A judge threw out a pro-abortion lawsuit Wednesday
challenging Florida's ``Choose Life'' license plate, which abortion
advocates argue is a state-sponsored religious message.

The optional bright yellow plates went on sale last year for $70; counties
use proceeds to promote adoption over abortion. Through the end of last
month, 25,272 had been sold. State Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman
Bob Sanchez said $668,000 has been raised from sales of the plate.

Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark dismissed the case Wednesday,
saying the plaintiffs failed to prove the plate was unconstitutional. "No
facts are alleged to support the conclusory assertions of excessive
government entanglement with religion," Clark wrote in a terse, three-page
order.

Clark added the legal equivalent of an exclamation point by dismissing the
case "with prejudice." That means the plaintiffs cannot ask her to
reconsider her decision.

The plaintiffs, which included the pro-abortion National Organization for
Women and a Palm Beach County synagogue, said they would appeal the
decision. NOW argued the phrase ``Choose Life,'' which appears on the
plate, gives the impression that the state agrees with the pro-life
perspective.

``We have always believed this suit had no legal merit,'' said Elizabeth
Hirst, pro-life Gov. Jeb Bush's press secretary. ``People make a personal
choice to display the Choose Life license plate. It is their right as an
individual.''

Mike McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, was
also pleased. Putting the phrase "Choose Life" on a license plate is not
establishing a state religion, he said. "We always thought that was a
stretch."

Similar plates have been challenged by abortion advocates in South
Carolina and Louisiana.