Planned Parenthood has responded to Nebraska’s new “Choose Life” license plates by creating an alternative message aimed at defending abortion rights.
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The new pro-choice-themed license plates, which will cost $70, will carry the message “My Body, My Choice.” These plates were made available on Jan. 1 for Nebraskans to order through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The controversial clinic chain has made no bones about its motivation for creating the plates, specifically noting that it is an attempt to counterbalance pro-life messaging that has come through the Nebraska legislature.
“[Planned Parenthood] developed these license plates to counter the fringe anti-choice organizations that pressured Nebraska state senators to issue state-sponsored ‘Choose Life’ license plates after those organizations failed to gather enough applications to move the license plate through the legitimate specialty license plate process,” a Planned Parenthood press release read.
We did it! This week, we proudly submitted 263 applications for the “My Body, My Choice” license plate – hitting Nebraska roads next month! https://t.co/DSnimkMerq pic.twitter.com/TkKdOvcgoe
— Planned Parenthood (@PPHeartland) December 28, 2017
Interestingly, the cost of the pro-life plates is just $5, as the “Choose Life” message was created through the legislature, while Planned Parenthood of the Heartland instead went through an application process to see the pro-choice plates come to fruition, The Lincoln Journal Star reported.
Organizational plates such as the one created by the abortion clinic chain apparently cost a bit more money.
Either way, Planned Parenthood representative Meg Mikolajczyk said that the plates offer Nebraska residents to push back against the pro-life message that was made available through the “Choose Life” plates.
“After all, the majority of Nebraskans and Americans overall believe that a woman should maintain her right to reproductive choice as established under Roe v. Wade,” Mikolajczyk said in a statement.
The Omaha World-Herald noted that the bill that created the “Choose Life” plates was quite controversial, with some politicians that it could open the floodgates to people and groups creating politically motivated messages on license plates.
So far, there are at least two such messages available via license plates. It will be intriguing to see what the future holds.