Breast cancer survivors push pink license plates

A new campaign aims to bring breast cancer awareness to the streets.

Four breast cancer survivors, known as the Survivor Sisters, are taking on their next operation: creating specialized pink license plates for California drivers.

The California Pink Plate Campaign began in Contra Costa County and was unanimously voted through the State Assembly on May 29. According to the group’s website, supporters hope to see the pink plates in the wild next summer.

Survivor Sister Heather McCullough said the group wanted to create something with a ubiquitous reach. She told KCBS:

“Some campaigns are only really out there during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we wanted something that would have a presence out there the entire year.”

The specialized plate design features the breast cancer awareness ribbon printed on a baby pink background. Navy letters at the bottom read, “Early detection saves lives.”

But before the pink plate legislation becomes a reality, it must first be approved by the transportation committee on the Senate floor and signed into law by Governor Brown.

The legislation, known as AB 49, was authored by Assemblymember Joan Buchanan.

The East Bay representative told Danville Patch breast cancer awareness is “an important issue for women’s health” and the license plates will provide women with “a very visible reminder.”

Not counting non-melanoma skin cancer, breast cancer in the United States is the most common cancer in women regardless of race of ethnicity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is also the leading cause of death from cancer among Hispanic women, and the second most common among other races.

Even older men can get breast cancer.

If AB 49 is signed into law, the campaign must present 7,500 prepaid orders to the DMV before the specialize plates can go into production.

The sales of the pink plates will benefit Every Woman Counts, a program that provides California’s underserved women with free clinical breast exams and mammograms.

McCullough said the group hopes women, upon seeing the license plates’ message, will take to heart that early breast cancer detection can save lives.

She told KCBS:

“Our ultimate hope is just that millions of people throughout California are able to see this plate and make them stop and think, ‘Did I get my mammogram today?'”