Victory: Supreme Court Upholds 'Choose Life' License Plates

"Now that the Arizona government's pro-abortion censors have been rebuked by the courts for the last time, drivers can finally exercise their free speech rights and choose 'Choose Life' license plates."

WASHINGTON, DC (LifeSiteNews) - The Supreme Court has left in place a January Appeals Court ruling allowing Arizona Life Coalition's "Choose Life" license plates to be made available in the state.

The pro-life coalition sued the state of Arizona after the Arizona License Plates Commission rejected an application by the group to have the license plates approved.

Although a district court judge originally ruled in favor of the state, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the state license plate commission violated the group's free speech rights by rejecting its application.

With the Supreme Court having decided to leave the Appeals Court decision in place, it should only be a matter of time before the license plates are approved.

"We just need that stamp of approval to come, and it really should," Peter Gentala, a lawyer for the coalition, told FoxNews. "There's a record of six years of stonewalling here." Normally, the process of producing a special organization plate takes several months.

FoxNews reports that a spokesperson for the Arizona license plate commission said they denied the proposed plate because it embodied a "very contentious and divisive issue that is not appropriate for a license plate." The Arizona Life Coalition plate design features the drawn faces of smiling children and the words, "Choose Life."

"Only a pro-abortion zealot would consider the words 'Choose Life' to be controversial," stated Fr. Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, in a statement praising the upheld ruling.

"Abortion profiteers and their political supporters are obviously threatened by the thought that someone, somewhere, sometime might choose an alternative to abortion," said Pavone. "Now that the Arizona government's pro-abortion censors have been rebuked by the courts for the last time, drivers can finally exercise their free speech rights and choose 'Choose Life' license plates."

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