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State Senator Dan Patrick is proudly reporting that the Texas Senate has passed by a 21-10 vote his bill creating license plates that say "Choose Life," thereby, we guess, breaking off the crippling shackles of all those Texans who have been previously prevented from shoving their religious and political views in everyone's faces.
The Senate passed the bill in 2009 but the House didn't approve, even though Governor Rick Perry called the plates "a subtle but meaningful way to express their personal view."
With the Tea Party make-up of this session's House, approval is expected.
Proceeds from the sale of the vanity plates will go to adoption organizations.
Here's the bill text on where the money, administered by the attorney general, can go:
Money received by an eligible organization under this section may be spent only to provide for the material needs of pregnant women who are considering placing their children for adoption, including the provision of clothing, housing, prenatal care, food, utilities, and transportation, to provide for the needs of infants who are awaiting placement with adoptive parents, to provide training and advertising relating to adoption, and to provide pregnancy testing or pre-adoption or postadoption counseling, but may not be used to pay an administrative, legal, or capital expense.
Organizations that are affiliated or contract with groups that "provide abortions or abortion-related services or make referrals to abortion providers" are not eligible for funds; religious groups specifically are.
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