Iowa Pro-Life, Abortion Advocates Will Compete in Dueling Book Sale 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 11, 2006
Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) — Iowa Planned Parenthood has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to promote abortions through an annual book sale. Until now, state residents haven’t had an alternative and the state’s pro-life organization is changing that this year.
The Iowa Right to Life Committee will host a book sale this September on the same dates of Planned Parenthood’s fundraiser in order to provide an alternative.
Not only will the book sale be an alternative to the one sponsored by the abortion business, proceeds will benefit alternatives as well. All of the money raised in the Right to Life book sale will benefit pregnancy centers and maternity homes that provide women with realistic alternatives to abortion and pregnancy help.
Kim Lehman, executive director of the Iowa Right to Life Committee, told the Des Moines Register newspaper that the pro-life book sale was established as direct competition to Planned Parenthood’s, which has been an annual event since 1961.
"No longer will people need to fight the temptation to buy bargain books from an abortion chain," Lehman said.
Kathi DiNicola, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, told the newspaper that a smaller pro-life book sale happened in the 1980s, but the abortion business has held the sale on its own since then.
"It seems to be a visibility event for them, to link their book sale up with ours," DiNicola told the Register. "We believe in everybody’s right to free speech and right to fundraise. It’s not a direct threat to us from a competition standpoint."
But competition is what Iowa Right to Life is hoping for as it seeks to counter the approximately $250,000 that Planned Parenthood raises each year. Right to Life hopes to raise $200,000 its first time out for the pregnancy centers.
The Planned Parenthood book sale is September 14-18 at the 4H building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds while the Iowa Right to Life book sale is September 14-16 at the Aurora Business Park on 109th Street and Aurora Avenue in Urbandale.
Related web sites:
Iowa Right to Life – https://www.irlc.org
