Links to other web sites

ILLINOIS
CHOOSE LIFE

Links to Other Web Sites

Adoption information and agencies Results by State

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
(Research on adoption perception and policy)
www.AdoptionInstitute.org

National Council For Adoption
(Adoption information and awareness)
www.ncfa-usa.org

Sunny Ridge Family Center: Adoption Agency and Adoption Resources in Illinois and Indiana
Sunny Ridge Family Center
2 South 426 Orchard Road Wheaton, Illinois, 60187
(630) 668-5117
www.openadoptions.org

Choose Life license plates in other states

Choose Life Update    -- provides more details on activities across the nation

Summary: Choose Life license plates are available in 17 states, approved but not yet available in Missouri and South Carolina, and in various stages seeking approval in 17 additional states. Of those states, Arizona and Illinois may be closest to success based on positive court rulings, but pending appeals.

Alabama -- Choose Life license plates are available with over 24,000 purchased from 2003 thru 2007

Arkansas -- Choose Life license plates are available with nearly 8,000 purchased from 2003 thru 2007

Connecticut   --   The State of Connecticut requires that you must be a member of The Children First Foundation in order to have CFF's Connecticut "Choose Life" license plate on your car or truck. Your $25 yearly CFF membership renewal fee will support pro-life agencies in Connecticut that help women who choose life and adoption for unwanted pregnancies and newborns. For further information, go to CFF's web site at www.ctchoose-life.org.

Florida   --   where Choose Life plates originated; providing leadership for other state efforts.

Georgia --   The Choose Life license plate became available in October 2007 and 1200 were quickly sold.   Go to www.gachoose-life.org to obtain more information about the Georgia Choose Life plate.

Hawaii -- Choose Life license plates became availabale in 2002 and continue to outsell the Planned Parenthood "Respect Choice" plate 5 to 1.

Illinois --   The January 2007 ruling in favor of Choose Life plates by Judge David Coar makes it likely the plates will become available, but the timing is still unknown. The state's appeal of Coar's ruling was heard by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on November 27, 2007. A ruling is expected sometime in 2008.

Indiana --   The Choose Life license plates became available for purchase in January 2007.

Kentucky --   Choose Life plates were available for purchase as of September, 2006. A bill was approved to allow for an administrative approval process of specialty license plates. The Family Trust Foundation of Kentucky, Inc. made formal application for the Choose Life license plate in Kentucky during February 2006.

Louisiana -- Choose Life plates are again available! A lawsuit had stopped sales of all Louisiana specialty plates, but a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, and released the injunction, so the plates became available in April, 2006.

Maryland -- Choose Life license plates are available with over 2000 on the road.

Mississippi -- Choose Life license plates are available with nearly 51,000 purchased from 2002 thru 2007

Missouri -- After a March 25, 2008 favorable ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Missouri Choose Life plates are available now and will be on the road once 200 applications can be submitted. [Prohibited from using “Choose Life” as a slogan on specialty license plates, Choose Life of Missouri, represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, filed suit on June 1, 2006 against the Missouri Department of Revenue, charging discrimination against the Choose Life message.]

Montana -- Choose Life license plates became availabale in 2004 and continue to outsell the Planned Parenthood "Pro-Family, Pro-Choice" plate 8 to 1.

North Dakota -- Sponsored by Senators Robinson & Wardner and Representatives N. Johnson, Metcalf & Mueller, approval of Choose Life plates has passed both chambers. We need to pre-sell 400 North Dakota Choose Life license plates before they can be produced. We are gathering the information about the administrative process required to do this and will notify you when we have it. The driving force behind this was Maxine Schanilec & State Representative Joyce Kingsbury. For more information contact Maxine Schanilec mxschani@polarcomm.com.

Ohio   --    Choose Life plates became available in May 2005.

Oklahoma   --    Choose Life plates became available in 2005 and 1500 are on the road.

Pennsylvania   --   Choose Life license plates became available in February 2007.

South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has approved the Choose Life license plate (May 2008). The plates may go into production as early as September 2008. South Carolina Citizens for Life re-applied for Choose Life plates after South Carolina passed a new law in 2006.

That law revised the South Carolina system for specialty plates to satisfy the court ruling against the sale of Choose Life plates as originally approved. This action became necessary when on January 24, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal of the negative ruling from the Federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

South Dakota has Choose Life plates available by requesting generic organization plates and then contacting Planning Life (Phone: 605 361-3275; email: michaelp@planninglife.org) to obtain the Choose Life decals for the plates.

Tennessee has Choose Life license plates available as of December, 2006. They became available after a decision of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the law that established the option to purchase Choose Life license plates in Tennessee, when the opposition's attempt to get a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court failed in June 2006.

Lawsuits filed to fight discrimination against Choose Life plates:

Arizona    --    A lawsuit was filed against Arizona for discrimination against the Choose Life license plate. In a September 26, 2005 decision, a federal judge upheld Arizona's denial of "Choose Life" plates on the grounds that license plates are government speech, and the state reasonably acted "to avoid the appearance (of) political favoritism in an otherwise nonpublic forum and maintained state neutrality on the issue. This decision was appealed to Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. On January 28, 2008 that court ruled in favor of the Arizona Choose Life plate, stating the right of free speech was violated when Arizona refused to issue the Choose Life specialty license plate, but the state has appealed.

California -- has received a court ruling favorable to establishing Choose Life license plates. U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell ruled the state legislature can issue no more specialty plates until the state establishes a more equitable procedure for authorizing special-interest license plates. Now, Assemblyman Ray Haines has drafted a bill that would set up a neutral-standards process for special interest plates. The Department of Motor Vehicles would run the program, but the legislature would be taken out of the decision-making process. Supporters of Choose Life plates expect they can achieve approval if this bill becomes law.

Illinois --   On January 19, 2007 Judge David Coar ruled in favor of Choose Life plates as freedom of speech and ordered that the plates be produced once the standard requirements were met. Judge Coar granted an indefinite extension of his plate production order after the Illinois Attorney General appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on February 14, 2007. That hearing occurred on November 27, 2007. A ruling is expected sometime in 2008.

Missouri -- After a March 25, 2008 favorable ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Missouri Choose Life plates are available now and will be on the road once 200 applications can be submitted. [Prohibited from using “Choose Life” as a slogan on specialty license plates, Choose Life of Missouri, represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, filed suit on June 1, 2006 against the Missouri Department of Revenue, charging discrimination against the Choose Life message.]

New Jersey   -- A federal judge in New Jersey on July 26, 2006 refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by The Children First Foundation against New Jersey officials for discrimination against a pro-adoption organization and its Choose Life license plate. Choose Life continues to win each round, but appeals continue.

New York   -- A lawsuit against New York for discrimination against the Choose Life license plate won its first court battle in January 2005, but the August 2005 trial date was postponed when the NY Attorney General appealed the ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In a decision released on March 7, 2006, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s second attempt to ban the phrase “Choose Life” from a pro-adoption specialty plate in New York State. [This lawsuit was filed to challenge the current procedure for establishing specialty plates after attempts to get approval for a Choose Life plate were rejected. This case is very similar to the case in Illinois.]

Pregnancy help centers

Aid For Women of Northern Lake County
126 W. Madison Avenue
Waukegan, IL 60085
847-249-2700
(fax: 847-249-1276)

Aid For Women
8 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60603
312-621-1100
Email: info@aidforwomen.org

Pregnancy Help