With Girl Scout season upon us, the below meme has been making the rounds again:
It was originally created two years ago by ALL.org, or American Life League, which according to its website is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States. This year, Pro-Life Waco has re-launched the campaign with Cookiecott 2016. Here’s their explanation for the boycott:
The national organization—GSUSA—maintains memberships, alongside abortion providers, in pro-abortion organizations; and confirms that its local councils and troops may collaborate with Planned Parenthood. Additionally, GSUSA honors Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Barbara Lee, all ardent advocates of abortion who even support partial birth abortion.
The international organization—World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)—which is funded by GSUSA, demands “non-judgmental sexual and reproductive-health information and services to all,” in its campaign The World We Want For Girls 2015.
To us, these all sound like excellent reasons to support the Girl Scouts! So we’ve responded with our own campaign: #CookieRush
Now here’s something you don’t see every day:
Pro Life But Also Pro Sex-Ed & Birth Control
I will be buying extra GS cookies this year.
I had herd a little about them being associated with PPH, but not a lot. definitely a good relationship.
As always the “pro-life” (more appropriately pro birth) crowd is on the wrong side of the discussion.
They’re not officially partnered with Planned Parenthood: http://www.girlscouts.org/en/faq/faq/social-issues.html
Which makes our comeback perhaps a bit misleading. But plenty of conservative organizations believe that smaller local GS groups partner with PP in other, perhaps unofficial ways, which there seems to be some minor evidence of: http://www.100questionsforthegirlscouts.org/100/pp.cfm
Either way, we support the Girls Scouts & PP — if they don’t actually officially partner, then it’s important to simply fight back against the smearing of Planned Parenthood. If they do partner, in whatever ways, then it’s important to support that partnership — because both groups do great, important work for girls and women.