The North Carolina state government is appealing a court decision that said North Carolinians have the right to choose—to choose what goes on the back of their cars.
Last Wednesday, attorney Kathryne Hathcock argued in front of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, advocating for a reversal of the 2012 decision that outlawed the government-sponsored selling of anti-abortion “Choose Life” license plates. Christopher Brook, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina—the organization that was the complainant in the original case, urged the court to uphold the decision, citing the lack of alternative pro-abortion rights plates as a violation of the First Amendment.
“The legislature authorized the “Choose Life” license plate but rejected six amendments to the law that would allow the creation of a license plate in favor of the opposite point of view,” said ACLU NC Communications Manager Mike Meno.
At the hearing, Hathcock—who declined to comment—said that the plates did not limit the speech of citizens because they expressed a government position.
“[The plates are] an opportunity for the members of the public that share the same interest as the state to express their affiliation with the government’s message,” she said.
Jeff Powell, a professor at the School of Law, said he did not agree with such a viewpoint.
“The first and 14th amendments do not permit government to create...a forum and then discriminate on the basis of the viewpoint,” he wrote in an email Monday. “The state law is an example of such viewpoint discrimination.”
Meno said that the ACLU was not taking a stance on abortion in arguing against the plates, but rather is arguing for free speech.
“If the situation had been reversed, we would have been making the same argument,” he said. “The real issue is whether the government can decide which points of view are acceptable to voice.”
A portion of the proceeds from the $25 plates would go to the North Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, an anti-abortion organization with over 70 locations across the state that gives free education and support to pregnant women.
Bobbie Meyer, the state director of the NCPCF, said that the organization was disappointed by the initial ruling, but it was optimistic about the appeal.
“With...other states with choose life license plates, in most cases, the outcome [in court] has been positive,” she said.
Meno said that he was confident that the court would rule in the ACLU’s favor, citing the fact that it was a Reagan appointee who made the initial ruling outlawing the plates.
“We are very confident in our position in the case,” he said.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, Meyer said attempts to get the anti-abortion message out will not stop.
“I don’t think the effort would be over even with a court decision,” she said.
Meyer added that she would not have a problem with the government issuing a pro-abortion rights license plate, but doubted that such a plate was the goal of the ACLU.
“They are trying to create issues so there are no “Choose life” license plates,” she said.
Powell said that, while he does not try to predict the courts, he hopes the court will affirm the original decision.
“The Constitution does not permit government to attempt to shape private discussion of a political issue by giving one side a platform for speech that it denies to the other,” he wrote. “That proposition is one on which everyone, regardless of their views on abortion, ought to agree.”
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