After over 60 years, we have made the difficult decision that this October we will host our last Planned Parenthood Book Sale.
The decision to end the Planned Parenthood Book Sale was not done lightly.
When the city told us about an important infrastructure project, the 2nd Avenue Corridor Project, they made a fair offer for the warehouse to avoid the eminent domain process and the legal fight for both parties. In this increasingly hostile landscape, Planned Parenthood is often fighting legal battles to protect the right of Iowans to access essential health care and much needed sex education. We often have to make hard decisions about where to allocate resources to support our mission. We recognized that by coming to a mutual agreement with the city with a fair purchase price for the warehouse, we could continue supporting sex education in Iowa and preserve our legal resources for the fight to protect Iowans’ freedom to control their health, bodies, and future. We are thankful for the city’s open communication and partnership in that process.
After a thorough analysis, we found that continuing with the Book Sale in a new warehouse location would generate less revenue for Iowa education programs than if we were to put the money from the eminent domain sale into an endowed fund.
Planned Parenthood North Central States will continue supporting comprehensive, medically accurate, and inclusive sex education program in Iowa at the same level as was raised by the Book Sale through an endowment fund established by the sale of the warehouse.