Topeka ? The abortion debate could go on the road in Kansas soon. A Senate panel endorsed a bill Tuesday creating a “Choose Life” license plate.

The Transportation Committee’s voice vote came after members amended the bill to include a proposal for a special plate providing funds for the Autism Society. The measure went to the Senate for debate.

Kansas who want specialized plates pay $40 to the state. The bill would permit the Autism Society and Kansans for Life to charge additional fees.

The plate for Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, would contain the phrase “Choose Life.” The group could charge between $25 and $100 to raise money for a trust fund to promote adoption.

Also Tuesday, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee finished hearing testimony on the last of three pieces of abortion legislation before it, including one that would define an “unborn child” as a person for certain prosecution purposes.

Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina offer “Choose Life” plates. Opponents have filed suit in each of those states, and Louisiana and South Carolina are currently under court injunction not to produce the plates until legal issues are resolved.

Alabama also enacted a law to allow the plates last fall but hasn’t received the 1,000 requests necessary to begin providing them.

A representative of Planned Parenthood, which has sued in the other states, warned the Transportation Committee that Kansas could face similar legal action if the bill were passed without providing a plate for the other side of the debate.

“I cautioned the committee it could be subject to lawsuits,” said Carla Mahany, Kansas public affairs director for Planned Parenthood. “Court cases that have addressed the issue have properly assumed ‘Choose Life’ is an anti-choice slogan.”

But supporters said a plate that helps fund adoption isn’t anti-choice.

“It says choose life,” said Joan Hawkins, executive director of Kansans for Life. “It’s all about choice.”

In the House, the Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony on a bill that adds the term “unborn child” to Kansas’ definition of a person  a step opposed by some abortion rights advocates.

Supporters of the measure said it would allow for a person to be prosecuted for two crimes for injuring or killing a pregnant woman.

“Violent criminals who injure or kill a pre-born child interfere with a woman’s choice,” said Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook, R-Shawnee. “Supporting a woman who makes that choice means supporting penalties against those who criminally interfere with it.”

Although the bill includes an exception for abortion, opponents argued it is an attempt to open legal challenges to abortion rights by recognizing a fetus as a person.