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
270 Remington Blvd, Suite C
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
(630) 754-4500
www.openadoptions.org

Choose Life license plates in other states

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

Summary: Choose Life license plates are now approved in 25 states, and available in 23, most recently Delaware and Massachusetts. North Dakota and New Mexico have obtained approval and expect availability in 2010. The plates are in various stages of seeking approval in 18 additional states. At this point Choose Life plates are blocked in Illinois after the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal of the negative ruling from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Alabama -- Choose Life license plates are available with over 38,000 purchased from 2003 thru 2009

Arizona    --    Choose Life license plates became available in May 2009. Nearly 1,400 have been sold/renewed through 6-30-2010, raising over $23,000.

Arkansas -- Choose Life license plates are available with over 10,600 purchased from 2003 thru 2009

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.

Delaware   --   Choose Life plate were approved in February, 2009; pre-sold 200 plates by August 2010 so the DMV began manufacturing them. The August 2010 report indicated that 225 plates were now on the road.

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

Georgia --   The Choose Life license plate became available in October 2007 and over 15,700 have now been 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 negative ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on November 7, 2008 was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on April 16, 2009, but that appeal was denied, so there is no clear path to approval at this time. The January 2007 ruling in favor of Choose Life plates by Judge David Coar was a positive step, but has been overruled on appeal.

Indiana --   The Choose Life license plates became available for purchase in January 2007. Over 5,200 are now on the road.

Kentucky --   Choose Life plates were available for purchase as of September, 2006, and over 7,200 are now on the road. 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 available. All lawsuits have been resolved in favor of the Choose Life license plate and it has raised thousands of dollars for the cause of Life. [A lawsuit had stopped sales of all Louisiana specialty plates, but a 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 2,500 on the road.

Massachusetts -- With over 1,700 Choose Life ordered by the time production began (a minimum of 1,500 was needed), over 700 of them have been picked up and are on the road as of early July, 2010.

Mississippi -- Choose Life license plates are available with over 75,000 purchased from 2002 thru 2009

Missouri -- After a March 25, 2008 favorable ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Missouri Choose Life plates are available now and nearly 200 are on the road. [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.

New Mexico -- Project Defending Life has gotten the Choose Life plate approved, but funding must still be obtained from the legislature to proceed. Then they need to get the license plate design approved by the DMV and pre-sell a certain number of plates before the state will make them available. If you would like to be one of the first to get the plate in New Mexico, email Fr. Stephen.

North Dakota -- The North Dakota Choose Life plate has been approved. ND Right to Life held a statewide contest to select the plate design. With the design approved by the motor vehicle department, ND Right to Life has pre-sold 26 of the 50 plates needed for production. If you want to order, contact Paul Maloney.

Ohio   --    Choose Life plates became available in May 2005, with over 11,000 now on the road.

Oklahoma   --    Choose Life plates became available in 2005 and over 2,800 are on the road.

Pennsylvania   --   Choose Life license plates became available in February 2007. They are outselling the Planned Parenthood plate by 37 to 1.

South Carolina -- Choose Life license plates were announced as available on October 22, 2008 after the Department of Motor Vehicles had approved the Choose Life plate in May 2008. Nearly 700 were sold through 1/31/10. [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, with nearly 27,700 plates sold/renewed through 6-10-2010, raising over $432,000. [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.]

Virginia -- Choose Life plate bill was signed by Gov. Timothy Kaine on 3/30/09. Orders can be placed and over 2000 are already on the road.

Lawsuits filed to fight discrimination against Choose Life plates:

Arizona (victory)   --    On January 7, 2009 the Arizona License Plate Commission voted unanimously to approve the Choose Life license plate. This result was the culmination of a lawsuit 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 the 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 appealed. However, that Ninth Circuit ruling was accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Arizona was ordered to offer the Choose Life plate. In a decision issued November 19, 2008, U.S. District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt ordered the Arizona commission to convene by January 23, 2009 to approve the Choose Life plate.

California (on hold) -- 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, but it was blocked.

Illinois (on hold) --  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. An unfavorable ruling was issued by the Seventh Circuit on November 7, 2008. An appeal of that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied on October 5, 2009.

Missouri (victory) -- After a March 25, 2008 favorable ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Missouri Choose Life plates are available now and were on the road in 2009 after the first 200 applications were 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 (in court)   -- 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. A new judge assigned to the case dismissed it in June 2008, resulting in an appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On April 9, 2010, that appeals court saw a three-judge panel revive the lawsuit. The case will now be sent back to U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano to act on the appeals court decision and move ahead with the lawsuit. Children First Foundation is also asking the Governor of New Jersey to drop the lawsuit.

New York (in court)   -- A lawsuit against New York for discrimination against the Choose Life license plate won its first court battle in January 2005, but 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. The Choose Life plate is winning this suit, but the state is appealing every decision they lose to drag out the suit. The Children First Foundation fully expects to win this suit. [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 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