Abortion rights supporters had urged Chafee to veto the bill, which passed the Democratic-controlled General Assembly shortly before lawmakers adjourned for the year. Twenty-nine states have similar plates, which sometimes feature children’s images.
Chafee wrote to lawmakers in his veto message that the function of a license plate is ‘‘to register and identify a motor vehicle.’’
‘‘It is my belief that state participation in the transmission of funds to this organization would violate the separation of church and state, one of the fundamental principles upon which our state was founded,’’ he wrote.
