Washington, D.C. (28 August 2008) – Time is running out for American Life League supporter JoAn Karkos. The Maine woman has until 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29 to return the sexually explicit children's book It's Perfectly Normal to a public library in Lewiston.
If she does not, the 64-year-old grandmother may face jail time.
"I'm not giving the book back," Karkos said. "Every citizen has an obligation to protect the innocence of children."
Karkos said she was inspired to check the book out of the library in September 2007 after reading an American Life League alert about the pornographic cartoon sex content in the book by Robie H. Harris. The book should be nowhere near children, according to Karkos.
Meant as sex education for preteens and adolescents as young as 10, It's Perfectly Normal contains cartoons of naked men and women in various sexual poses and long-winded descriptions of masturbation and homosexuality as depictions of 'perfectly normal' behavior.
It's been endorsed and circulated by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's largest abortion chain.
"The book subverts true liberty, hates well-ordered discipline, and wages [war] against peace and harmony in public and private lives of youth and children," Karkos said. "I refused to return the borrowed book."
Karkos sent the library a check for $20.95 to cover the cost of the book. The check was sent back.
Now, unable to find a lawyer to represent her, Karkos represented herself in Maine's 8th District Court August 27. The judge ordered her to sit in the courtroom until she returned the book. An hour later, the judge revised the order and gave Karkos until Friday.
"JoAn is a courageous hero standing against one of the vilest examples of Planned Parenthood's war on families and hatred for childhood innocence," said Judie Brown. "We hope her trial will alert parents, who can no longer trust libraries to be free of pornography, even in the children's section. We now know the abortion industry is willing to invade our public libraries to distribute inappropriate information and get our kids hooked on sex."
American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5678726&page=1
WMTW: http://www.wmtw.com/mostpopular/17309089/detail.html