Driving the Pro-Life Message Home

by Fr. Roger Landry - August 20, 2010

During the summer months, as there has been much higher volume on local roads as people head to cookouts, travel to Cape Cod, drive to the many local beaches, go to summer camps, sporting events, outdoor feasts and concerts, and joy ride on major city thoroughfares, many drivers have been noticing a surprising and welcome sight on the fronts and backs of several of the cars they pass: a new Massachusetts license plate with the image of a woman embracing a little baby against the backdrop of a warm heart and with the message "Choose Life."

In June, these "Choose Life" plates became the eighteenth specialty plate approved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. They are the result of a seven-year effort led by Merry and Ken Nordeen of Wakefield, who recruited 1,725 car owners to pre-order the plates and secured a $100,000 bond from a donor to enable the Commonwealth to manufacture an initial run of 5,000, which are now available at registries across the state and available on-line. The Nordeens saw Choose Life plates for the first time in Florida, where over the past decade these plates have generated income not merely extra income for the Sunshine State but raised $5 million for pregnancy help centers. Like the Nordeens, citizens in other states have sought to follow Florida's lead, and now 22 states have Choose Life plates.

Massachusetts drivers have long looked to specialty plates to give both free publicity and financial support to worthy causes. There are plates that support the charitable foundations of all four major sports teams. The Massachusetts Environmental Trust has three speciality plates — featuring images right whales, brook trout and the blackstone valley — all emphasizing the message "Preserve the Trust." Many cars east of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges feature the popular Cape Cod and Islands plate with Eastham's Nauset lighthouse, the sale of which benefits local economic development. Other plates seek to promote and help foundations that battle cancer, support the basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, fund the U.S. Olympic Committee, build a firefighters memorial on Beacon Hill, underwrite the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, underwrite the costs for spaying and neutering animals, and support the United Way's programs for children.

It takes $40 to switch to using specialty plates for a two-year period (which is in addition to the $50 biennial registration fee all cars need to pay). For the first two years, $12 goes to the Commonwealth for the purchase of the new plates, and $28 goes to the non-profit entity supported by them. Every two years afterward, all $40 goes to the entity.

So those obtaining Choose Life plates would be doing two things to help out the pro-life cause. First, they would be contributing $14 a year for the first two years and $20 over subsequent years to pregnancy help centers across the Commonwealth like Birthright and A Woman's Concern. Second, they would be providing thousands of dollars worth of positive pro-life advertising wherever they drive.

There are now companies that pay drivers $5 a month to affix a particular bumper sticker to their car, $80 a month to put sign in a car window and $250-800 a month to have a car wrapped completely with vinyl advertisements like buses in several regional bus systems. Advertising gurus have obviously recognized what political campaigns have long known: that there is enormous value in the publicity one can give to a product or cause by affixing a message to a vehicle. A car driving to work or to school can easily be seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of other drivers each day, depending upon the commute.

The message that the Choose Life plates advertise is one that many in our culture need to see and hear — and is one that could end up saving a life. It is not impossible to imagine that a woman on her way to have an abortion might see the Choose Life plates driving behind a car on the highway or stopping behind one at a stop light. It might be the gentle message that helps her to remember that she actually does have a choice, no matter how pressured she may feel toward taking the life of her child. The fact that many have believe that the image on the Choose Life plates is evocative of Mary holding the baby Jesus may add to the impact the image and message may have.

As Pam Cross of Boston's WCVB TV (Channel 5) said at the end of her report the day the Choose Life plates became available, "Each plate is a mini-ad, a reinforcement of the choose-life message."

Obtaining the plates is simple and straightforward. Those interested need simply to go to any local registry with their license and registration and pay the $40 to switch. If their old registration is expiring, they would also have to pay the regular $50 biennial fee. It is also possible to order the plates on line with a credit card, by going to http://www.mass.gov/rmv/express/chooselife.htm.

If you have never had a specialty plate, now would be a good time for your first. If you already have another specialty plate, now might be the time to switch from supporting a worthy cause to helping an even worthier one.

What a beautiful witness it would be if Choose Life plates became as ubiquitous throughout the expanse of the Diocese of Fall River as the Cape and Islands plates are in the Diocese's eastern half, or if they became as popular on the cars in Catholic Church parking lots as Red Sox specialty plates are in the garages around Fenway.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.