Nixing Pro-Life License Plates — and Funding for Suicide Prevention

When Michigan’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, first ran for elected office in 2010, he professed that he was “firmly pro-life” and had “a strong belief in the value of human life.” But on Friday, with his second and final term in office in sight (because of term limits), the supposedly pro-life governor did something inexcusable: He vetoed a bill authorizing a “choose life” license plate.

The bill, SB-163, passed both houses of the Michigan legislature with strong support and is so mainstream that 30 states and the District of Columbia already offer “choose life” plates — including (besides D.C.) the liberal bastions Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, and Hawaii. But unlike the choose-life license plates available elsewhere, the Michigan plate would be the first to fund suicide-prevention efforts in addition to assisting women facing crisis pregnancies.

Given his earlier claims of being pro-life, and likely anticipating the backlash over his veto, Governor Snyder penned a letter explaining his rationale. His justification is just as indefensible as his veto. Here’s what he wrote:

In 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that when a state issues a specialty license plate, the state itself is speaking. And as a speaker, it is free to choose its message. . . . The “Choose Life” license plate is a political message that has the potential to bitterly divide millions of Michiganders and that, in my view, is not appropriate for a state-issued license plate.

(Read more from “Nixing Pro-Life License Plates — and Funding for Suicide Prevention” HERE)

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