The Girl Scouts have a “truth-in-labeling” problem especially when it comes to matters related to sex and abortion, according to pro-life activists.
They take particular issue with the Girl Scouts’ close relationship with Planned Parenthood and its embrace of comprehensive sex education that they see as running contrary to traditional Judeo-Christian ethics.
The Girls Scouts “comprehensive sex-ed [program], has nothing to do with plumbing,” but “it has everything to do with teaching that sex of any kind is acceptable…because sexual pleasure is the be-all and end-all,” according to Mary Rice Hasson, a fellow of the Center for Ethics and Public Policy, who spoke Saturday at the National Right to Life Conference in Arlington, Va.
Truth-in-labeling, she said, “matters when it comes to the decisions we make for our children, decisions like who is going to mentor them, who is going to teach them, what group should they belong to?”
The Girl Scouts denies having any connection on a national level with Planned Parenthood on its website, yet Planned Parenthood’s project “Real Life, Real Talk,” in Syracuse, N.Y., lists “Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways” as a partner organization.
“The reality is they are part of the pro-abortion sisterhood,” Hasson said.
Hasson criticized the relationships that the Girl Scouts foster with “reproductive rights” groups, its praise role models with connections to abortion, boasting of a national leadership “profoundly committed” to an anti-Christian view of sexuality and fund organizations that support that agenda.
The Girl Scouts of the USA’s (GSAUSA) November 2011 convention hosted speakers with direct connections with Planned Parenthood and ideologies that encourage sex apart from marriage. Annise Parker, the first lesbian mayor of a major American city, ranked among them.
GSUSA founded and sustains membership in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), which supports “comprehensive sexuality education programs and universal access to reproductive health services as part of environmentally sustainable development.”
While the Girl Scouts denies funding WAGGGS, the global organization receives dues from each member organization, based on the number of members the partner organization has. Hasson mentioned a report on www.honestgirlscouts.com, that 44 cents per girl scout goes to WAGGGS.
“In July,” Hasson reported, “WAGGGS and Girl Scouts USA are hosting the Girl’s World Forum.” Every GSUSA council will send two girls delegates to talk about environmental development.
Hasson urged concerned parents to give their daughters alternatives to the Girl Scouts. Most parents “want to help their daughter be a leader, have fun, and be selfless, to really work to make the world a better place,” she said.
Other organizations, Like American Heritage Girls (a “Christ-centered scout-type program”), Little Flowers (a purely Roman Catholic organization), and Boy Scouts of America Venture Scouts, offer this opportunity.
“I think it’s indefensible,” Hasson said, “for Girl Scouts to say they take no position on the most important human rights issue of our time – abortion.”
