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BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, April 25, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – People seldom associate the bowling alley with the abortion alley, but an annual “bowling for abortion” event has raised more than $400,000 to fund abortions across the country.

The National Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon describes itself as “a nationwide series of local events that allow community members (you!) to captain your own bowling team, participate in a kickass national event– and raise money to help women and girls pay for abortions they couldn’t otherwise afford.” In addition offering partial funding for abortions, the proceeds “buy bus or plane tickets, and even offer a place to stay for those who have to travel for an abortion.”

As of this writing, the group has raised more than $401,000.

A total of 32 bowl-a-thons, from Rhode Island to California, are scheduled in the last two weeks of April. Those in other locations can take part in a virutal bowl-a-thon on April 30.

On Sunday, there will also be one miniature golf-a-thon. Last year, the D.C. HOLE-a-thon raised $28,000 for abortions in the nation’s capital. This year, its goal is $40,000.

Participating bowling teams have names like Bowlin’ for ‘Bortions, Kiss Our Uter-Ass, Margaret Sanger’s Ball Bangers, THUNDERCUNTS, If Only Limbaugh’s Mom Used Birth Control, IUDivas, Tuff Titties, Vag of Courage,  Takin’ Our CUNTry Back, No Rosaries On MY Ovaries, Queer As In Fund Us, the Valiant Vulvas, the Charlottesville Harlots, and the Fierce Pussy Posse.

Some engage in transvestitism or mock priests and nuns with their costumes.

Some participants take their babies or young children along. Others joked, “abortion stops a beating heart.”

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According to its press kit the bowl-a-thons’ beneficiary, the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), is “an affiliation of more than 100 grassroots abortion Funds in 40 states in the United States, as well as Funds in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and online.”

Last year, NNAF distributed more than $2.9 million last year to pay for 21,000 women to have abortions. Its George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund “provides funding to women seeking later abortion care.”

“Over the past two months, more than 75% of the calls we received were from women who were 16 weeks or further into their pregnancy,” the foundation states.

The fund concentrates its work on “women living in the South,” as well as “women in prison, immigrant women, very young women and girls, and women for whom English is a second language.”

The organization asks the government to restore Medicaid funding for abortion to all women “regardless of immigration status.” It calls on legislators to “require all institutions that receive public money, including religiously affiliated institutions, to provide a basic standard of care that includes full reproductive health services.” Its other demands include covering “abortion and contraception in all private insurance plans” and selling Plan B over-the-counter.

NNAF’s website shows women how to have their abortions funded by Medicaid in 15 states and laments “the devastating effects of the Hyde Amendment,” which prohibits federal funding.

Despite working to get poor women discounts from abortionists, it does not pay the full price of the procedure. Instead, NNAF encourages women to consider “lying to a friend or family member” to get money for an abortion. It asks young women to join “medical testing groups” and cultivate their “relationship” with their landlord. It also suggests they drop out of college.

The bowling fundraiser is but one of the organization’s revenue streams. NNAF is supported by well-heeled, tax-exempt foundations, including:

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, founded by the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. Its Population and Reproductive Health program focuses on promoting “abortion funding for low-income women by repositioning abortion as a mainstream health and equity issue” and supports “comprehensive sexuality education for young people.”

The Moriah Fund, which was established in 1985 by Robert and Clarence Efroymson. “Their philosophy of giving was rooted in fundamental Jewish values,” its website states. Its mission includes “promoting reproductive health and rights,” especially for women “marginalized by race, ethnicity, economic or immigration status or other social inequities.”

The Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation has funded ACORN, the Tides Foundation, the Tides Center, and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

The Dickler Family Foundation, which dissolved in 2010, dispersed $8.9 million that year to pro-choice organizations such as the International Planned Parenthood Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the New York Women’s Foundation. It gave $1,000 to the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous to aid those who saved Jews from the Holocaust. 

The Mary Wohlford Foundation was established by a nurse who “was particularly concerned about reproductive health and rights and responsible population growth.”

The Herb Block Foundation, established by the liberal Washington Post editorial cartoonist who signed his works “Herblock.”

NNAF also receives funds from the Educational Foundation of America, the General Service Foundation, and “two anonymous funders.”

The $401,000 raised from the month-long “bowling for abortion” events outpaces pro-life groups, which usually set more modest goals. For instance Biking for Babies, which raises money for crisis pregnancy centers, has a goal of $40,000 this year.