RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The ACLU filed a lawsuit Thursday against the North Carolina legislature, which authorized an anti-abortion license plate while rejecting pro-choice plates.
The legislature has violated the First Amendment by selecting license plate slogans based on the viewpoints expressed, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
The General Assembly passed a bill this year authorizing a specialty plate that says "Choose Life." It rejected six amendments for plates with slogans that included "Trust Women, Respect Choice" or "Respect Choice."
"If anti-choice drivers are permitted to express their views on their license plates, people like me should be able to express our view that women deserve full reproductive freedom," said Sue Holliday, a certified nurse midwife and one of the plaintiffs in the case.
While the ACLU is often regarded as a liberal or even left-wing organization, it has gone to bat for people with extreme right-wing views. In one famous case, the group argued for the right of a Nazi organization to march in Skokie, Ill.
"Our position would be the same if the State had authorized a pro-choice license plate but not an anti-choice alternative," said Katherine Lewis Parker, legal director for the state ACLU. "In that situation, the ACLU-NCLF would be suing on behalf of anti-choice drivers under the exact same theory of viewpoint discrimination."
