By Jim Sedlak
Executive director
American Life League's STOPP International
This column was written for the Washington Dispatch.
"Hello," I would say to the person who picked up the phone at one of the 315 Girl Scout councils across the United States, "my name is Jim from American Life League's STOPP International, and I am calling to find out if your Girl Scout council has any relationship with Planned Parenthood."
My associate, Ed Szymkowiak, assisted with the calls. He and I both thought it was a simple question. Many times the answer was: "What do you mean by a relationship?"
"Well," we said, "ANY relationship. Do you invite Planned Parenthood to talk to the girls? Do you send the girls to Planned Parenthood for sessions? Do you co-sponsor any Planned Parenthood event? Do you and Planned Parenthood promote any events put on by third parties? Do you give awards to Planned Parenthood executives? Are any of your Girl Scout leaders or board members also on the board of Planned Parenthood?"
"You know, ANY relationship?"
"Well," said one chief executive officer of a local Girl Scout Council, "I have been instructed to just say 'no comment' to whatever you ask."
"Who instructed you to say that?" we asked.
"I can't tell you that," came the reply.
And, so it went.
This effort began when a woman named Kathy Cloninger, who is the executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA, appeared on a national television show. While discussing a controversy over the Girl Scouts partnering with Planned Parenthood in Waco, Texas, she said that Girl Scout councils across the United States partner with a lot of groups, including Planned Parenthood.
After her statement, people began calling our office. They wanted to know if their local Girl Scout council had any relationship with Planned Parenthood. After several such calls, we decided we needed to find out. So we contacted every council in the country - all 315 of them. Some we called, but every one of them was contacted by e-mail.
Those that didn't respond to our initial question were contacted again, either by phone or by a follow-up e-mail. Then, after several weeks of trying, we made a list of all those we still hadn't heard from and we contacted them again.
In the end, we were able to classify 21% of the councils as to whether or not they had any relationship with Planned Parenthood. Our experience was that those who did not have such a relationship were anxious to tell us so. They would respond almost immediately to our question. If they were responding to a second or third request, they would apologize for not responding sooner.
Those, on the other hand, who did have a relationship with Planned Parenthood were not anxious to divulge that information. We often found out about it from third parties or from their web sites. Sometimes we would find out from Planned Parenthood's web sites. Or they would offer excuses - "the council has no relationship with Planned Parenthood, but some of the troop leaders sometimes invite them to speak to the troop."
On April 11, 2004, we will post the results of our effort on our web site. It will show that we have clearly identified 17 Girl Scout councils who have a relationship with Planned Parenthood and 49 that do not.
But what of the 249 councils that did not respond? What are they hiding?
I mean, if you think Planned Parenthood is so great that you are willing to expose your pre-teen and teenage girls to its philosophies, why wouldn't you be proud to say so? Why wouldn't you be like the three councils in Pennsylvania who are obviously so proud that we can read on the internet how Planned Parenthood is invited in to talk to the Junior Girl Scouts and these talks make up the majority of the effort the girls need for a special "Becoming a Teen" badge?
There is something strange here.
I am not against the Girl Scouts. My two daughters were in the Girl Scout program when they were young. My wife won a leadership award from the Girl Scouts for all the work she did in support of our girls' Brownie troop. I have granddaughters who are currently in Brownie troops and one of my daughters is a troop leader. So I have lots of positive feelings about the Girl Scouts.
But this entire effort has been an eye opener. I have communicated with many parents who are upset with the Girl Scouts. It seems incongruous to me that any organization that purports to build "strong girls" would have a relationship with an organization that is trying to get communities to accept the fact that sex between young girls and boys is not only normal and natural, but also "contributes to them maturing into sexually healthy adults."
There is nothing strong about teens that give in to pre-marital sexual experiences. It is the strong girls (and boys) who have the character to recognize this activity for the evil that it is and learn to confidently and aggressively say "NO!"
But that is obviously not the message the girls will get from the Girl Scouts' sexuality programs. On the aforementioned television program, Cloninger said that their programs "bring information-based sex education programs to girls." You should be aware that "information-based" is a Planned Parenthood code word for "without values." Planned Parenthood believes it should not tell young girls what is right or wrong. It should just give them information and let them make their own value judgments.
Obviously, the Girl Scout leadership agrees with that approach. In addition, they see nothing wrong with partnering with Planned Parenthood - an organization that has a financial interest in getting as many young girls as possible involved in a sexual lifestyle. Young girls who have sex provide millions of dollars of income to Planned Parenthood. Those who live lives of purity and chastity don't provide them with a dime.
Those girls who listen to Planned Parenthood will experience a life filled with the fear of sexually transmitted diseases, broken relationships, and the devastation of living with a promiscuous lifestyle.
We, as the adults in this society, have to take a close look at those organizations that we have trusted for so long and ask the hard question: "Can they still be trusted?" Just because the Girl Scouts are still involved in, as Cloninger said on TV, "something as American icon as the Girl Scout cookie sale" does not mean they still deserve our trust.
We must not abandon our children to Planned Parenthood or those who would invite them in to our girls' lives. What this effort has shown me is that we cannot blindly trust the Girl Scouts to do what is right. Call your local Girl Scout council. Ask if they associate with Planned Parenthood. If they do, demand that they stop. If they won't answer you, then take your girls and run. Run to organizations like the American Heritage Girls or the Young Catholic Daughters, who have a policy of not having a relationship with Planned Parenthood.
Don't do it for me. Do it for your children.
Release issued: 9 Apr 04
