The pro-life movement has been concerned for a number of years about the ties between the Girl Scouts and the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Although the Girl Scout organization maintains that it takes "no position" on the issue of abortion, parents, churches, and pro-life activists have long complained of the pro-abortion slant of the Girl Scouts' resources, role models, and affiliations.
After a series of articles on the boycott and the Girl Scouts-Planned Parenthood link that featured the Girl Scouts logo to identify the organization, Brian Crawford, an executive with Girl Scouts USA, wrote LifeNews a scathing letter attempting to intimidate us into stopping our reporting on their link and to no longer use their logo or image to identify them as we bring attention to their support for the nation's biggest abortion business.
"Girl Scouts USA does not have a partnership or any relationship with Planned Parenthood and does not plan to initiate one," he claimed.
However, the links between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood are longstanding, with a Girl Scouts CEO and individual troops admitting as much.
Fresh on the heels of Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) sharing a recommendation for pro-abortion Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis as a 2013 Woman of the Year via their official Twitter account, the organization suggested pro-abortion HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as a woman "with courage, confidence, and character."
Meanwhile, the new national spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts, Kelly Parisi, is the former spokeswoman for a pro-abortion organization - one founded by Gloria Steinem.
The Girl Scouts have been criticized for their involvement in the May, 2013 Women Deliver Conference, an international event that included "safe and legal abortion" among its overarching themes. It documents its role in the planning and facilitating of the December, 2012 Bali Global Youth Forum and the outcome declaration, which demands youth access to abortion.
The ties between the two groups have been questioned ever since former Girl Scouts CEO Kathy Cloninger admitted on NBC's The Today Show: "We partner with many organizations. We have relationships with Planned Parenthood organizations across the country."
Then, in a national survey, seventeen Girl Scouts councils admit to partnering with Planned Parenthood; many other councils refuse to answer the survey question. Of the 315 Girl Scout councils in the U.S., 17 councils reported having a relationship with Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, and 49 reported they do not. The other 249 refused to disclose any relationship.
In 2010-2011 Girls Scouts in New York partnered with Planned Parenthood for a sex-ed program, "Real Life. Real Talk." The program website touts their partners: "Real Life. Real Talk. is proud to count the following organizations, faith communities and companies as partners: Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways."
For fourteen years, the Girls Scouts in Waco, TX co-sponsored a sex ed conference with Planned Parenthood. "It's Perfectly Normal," a book written by a Planned Parenthood executive, was given to all children in attendance says abortion can be "a positive experience." And in January 2012, Girl Scouts employee Renise Rodriguez wore a "Pray to End Abortion" t-shirt during an off-duty visit to her Tucson Girl Scout office and was ordered to her to turn the shirt inside out or leave.
As LifeNews reported in 2012, the Girl Scouts joined with Planned Parenthood to head a UN conference, and LifeNews reported on the investigation the Catholic Church is undertaking into the ties between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups.
