Saying it would be the first specialty license plate in Florida to promote a political message, Gov. Lawton Chiles vetoed an anti-abortion tag with the message "choose life."
"It's a subject that's very controversial, divides the state," Chiles said Wednesday. "And I don't think we ought to embark on that with tags."The plate was bright yellow and carried the faces of two smiling children as well as the words "choose life." A group called Choose Life Inc. collected 10,000 signatures and paid a $30,000 fee, the two prerequisites for seeking legislative approval of a specialty tag.
The money raised by the $20 extra fee for the plate would have been distributed among private groups to help women who want to put children up for adoption. Agencies that provide abortion services would have been ineligible, Chiles noted in his veto message.