On April 16, the Wall Street Journal reported that five large book publishers have joined the case filed by a sixth large publisher to prevent the State of Iowa from restricting the purchase or use of certain books for school libraries and classrooms (Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, “Major Publishers Join Iowa Book-Ban Lawsuit,” April 16, 2024, p. B1). These publishers published these books for children. They contain language that cannot be repeated, and artwork that cannot be shown, in public hearings. As a former prosecutor of child abuse and neglect cases, I am appalled by the boldness of the publishers’ persistent and increasing abuse and sexual exploitation of children. These publishers promote these books to administrators and teachers who, by purchasing these books, abuse and sexually exploit the children under their care.

And now, when Iowa intervenes with legislation to protect children from these adults who work for publishers and schools, these purveyors of filth refuse to stand down, but sue. Shockingly, the largest teachers’ union in Iowa stands with the filth-mongers in their suit (see Stephen Gruber-Miller, “Largest US Publisher, Bestselling Authors Sue Over Iowa Law Banning K-12 Books with Sex Acts,” Des Moines Register, Nov. 30, 2023; link here).

Imagine how many books are at stake, how much money is at stake, for the publishers to sue, including in a market the size of Iowa (Iowa has under 500,000 K-12 students in public schools (Press Release, Iowa Dept. of Education, Jan. 26, 2024, link here). Actually, we don’t need to imagine. We are told by the American Library Association via an April 9 article in the Wall Street Journal that, nationally, people have petitioned schools (and school libraries) and public libraries to remove, or not purchase, 4,240 unique titles (Joseph De Avila, “Book-Ban Campaigns Targeted a Record 4,240 Titles Last Year”; see this link). The American Library Association data is limited in its usefulness to the national public debate since it includes public libraries and does not track how many of these petitions were successful, including partially successful in having a title restricted in its distribution.

Parents and taxpayers pay over and over again: They pay the salaries of adults who buy and use these books; they pay for the books; they pay for the corruption of their children. And now they have to pay to defend the legislation in court.