Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Virginia motorists who support abortion rights are one step closer to being able to express those views on their license plates - but there's a small hitch.
The state Senate and House of Delegates both approved measures Tuesday authorizing a specialty plate with the slogan "Trust Women/Respect Choice." The bills passed comfortably, 26-8 in the Senate and 77-22 in the House.
One key difference between the two measures will have to be resolved, however. After a debate that served as a surrogate for the continuing struggle over abortion, the House voted to route the revenue generated from sale of the plates away from the intended recipient, the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.
Instead, the House bill directs the profits to the Virginia Pregnant Women Support Fund, which, it was discovered after the vote, exists only on paper.
The fund was authorized by the General Assembly in 2007 to be administered by the state Board of Health to support women facing unplanned pregnancies. But the legislature didn't provide any funding for it, so it has never gotten off the ground, said Dr. David Suttle, director of the Office of Family Health Services in the state Health Department.
Del. Robert Brink, D-Arlington County, the sponsor of the original House bill, called the state fund "an empty vessel" and said that by denying the revenue to Planned Parenthood the House was inviting a First Amendment lawsuit. The Senate rejected a similar attempt to redirect the plate revenues.
Planned Parenthood officials have said they would deposit funds received from the plate into an account that pays for women's health and education services, not abortions.
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threats of vandalism and cars being keyed
Threats of vandalism and cars being keyed by 2 on here does not fall on deaf ears. We (that believe in the freedom of Choice) are well aware of the destructive, and life threating behavior of anti-abortionist. We see you at abortion clinics, we hear you pounding your bible, we see your children carrying posters of a fetis, and you are not new to us, nor are we afraid of you.
Ken Cuccinelli opened this can of worms, the playing feel is now even, so bring on your threats, but I promise you someone will end up in jail and it won't be me or anyone I know.
It would serve us all well to start writing down some ant-abortionist names, and hanging on to them.
You cannot have just YOUR point of view be heard, so you can thank Ken for the ACLU treating to sue, so that both sides can be heard.
Get your facts straight
You obviously did not read my posts very well. I have stated I am pro-choice and I never made any threats. You all have been reading something into my posts that is just not there. I merely stated that this will happen. What happens when you throw gasoline onto a fire? It blows up in your face. It's just common sense.
I am also atheist.
I am also atheist.
BTW Pilot
Reset your clock. It is now Eastern Standard Time. Spring ahead, fall back.
disfunctional goernment
Where is all the talk about disfunctional government. The repubs think they should be able to do what ever they want because God is on their side, even if it is lying or unethical.
as george costanza said
It isn't lying if YOU believe it's true.
let's set the record straight
I never said or intimated that I personally am going to key anybody's car, which I am not. But the fact is that if you boast about a personal preference, especially an extremely controversial one where emotions run so high that violent crime is often the result, there will be opposition to you and there may be consequences. I couldn't care less whether you rock the "Choose Life" or "Pro Choice" plates. I just hope your car insurance is paid up.
Here's what I'd like to know...
All of you who are complaining that "We don't need special plates," "This is a waste of the legislature's time," "Government has no business being involved with license plates," "Nobody needs to advertise their stand on the issues"...where were you when the "Choose Life" plates were first proposed? Why weren't you all up in arms about that? Then-Senator Ken Cuccinelli spent years trying to get his pet plates through - why didn't any of you consider that a waste of time? Surely there were more important issues he could have been working on.
...Yeah. Thought so.
I propose a new vanity plate
Choose to mind your own business.
Diverting funds to the VPWSF?
Can you say "discrimination", boys and girls? Sure you can!
Planned Parenthood did EVERYTHING the DMV and state law required of them to have this plate made, even going so far as to restrict how funds would be allocated in order to placate anti-choicers. The House denying them the money from their own plate is nothing less than institutional bias, especially since the "fund" they want to divert this money to DOES NOT EXIST. Would they do this to any other group? I don't think so - I can't see House Repugnicans having the gall to tell, say, a Girl Scout troop, "We're giving the money you raised from cookie sales to the Boy Scouts, because we don't approve of your Sex-Ed badge," or something along those lines. Shame on every single member of the House who voted for this repulsive, crooked bait-and-switch.