The Arizona Motor Vehicle Division can’t avoid it any more. The agency has to starting issues special license plates for people who oppose abortion, as the state already does for causes such as spraying and neutering pets and to support fallen police officers.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused this morning to consider an decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that says abortion opponents have a First Amendment right to their own specialty license plate.

 “Life-affirming expression is constitutionally protected just like any other speech,” said Peter Gentala, attorney for the Arizona Life Coalition, which requested the “Choose Life” plate in a news release today. “The Arizona Life Coalition’s message has been censored for over six years. Now it’s time for the License Plate Commission to act quickly to approve the plates so they can go into production as the law requires.” 

It’s probably hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but I wrote more than a year ago that Arizona was discriminating against pro-life groups by refusing to issue such a plate after had patiently followed all of the rules. Now, the state has to start selling the plates, or get out of the business of these specialty issue plates. The Tribune Editorial Board has called for the latter option, but I doubt that will happen.