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Mixed Messages: The Girl Scouts Relationship with Planned Parenthood

By Sarah Pollak
CBN News Reporter

WARNING: This story contains content that may not be suitable for children.

The Coody girls of Crawford, Texas were not sure at first, why their mom was so upset at the Girl Scouts. Donna Coody, the girls mother, said, "They were like, 'What is going on?'"

Coody was so angry, she dissolved her Brownie troop. She, along with other Girl Scout moms in her area, had been contacted by John Pisciotta. He is a pro-life leader in Waco, and an Economics professor at Baylor University.

Pisciotta was heading up a boycott of Girl Scout cookies. But the moms wondered why. He explained, "The Girl Scouts brought their association and support of Planned Parenthood to a new level in 2003. And they designated as a woman of distinction in May of 2003, the executive director of Planned Parenthood of central Texas. So we're talking about the CEO of the abortion clinic as someone to be a role model for young girls."

Pisciotta went on to tell the mothers about a local sexuality conference, called the "Nobody's Fool" program, co-sponsored by Planned Parenthood and the Girls Scouts of the Blue Bonnet Council.

"At this Nobody's Fool program it reached a new level, a new low this year," said Piscotta. "And they gave away at this program, to youngsters in grades 7-9, the book "It's Perfectly Normal." And I think everybody should know what this book is. And it's really an assault on Christian sexual morality."

The book discusses masturbation and says it is perfectly normal for boys and girls to "feel sexy." It also shows depictions of different sexual positions, talks about all forms of birth control, and openly discusses homosexuality. The book, marketed for children 10 and up, even explains how to have an orgasm.

Coody said, "It may be cartoonish pictures, but you can't get any more graphic than that. And in the state of Texas, 18-year-olds cannot buy pornography, so why are they handing it out to 10- year-olds?"

One of the most disturbing parts of the book, say parents, is a list of the top nine reasons to have an abortion, including:

If the parents didn't have enough time or money to take "good care" of a baby.
If the parents felt too young to be parents.
Or, if the girl or woman simply didn't want to become pregnant.

All this made a number of Girl Scout moms decide to take their kids out of the Scouts.

Coody said, "When I became, or decided to become a Brownie leader, they did a background check on me. Well, I always say I made the mistake. I didn't do one on them. Because if I had, maybe I would have been informed a lot sooner, and not involved my children and found out what direction they're going."

Coody then had the task of explaining that to her kids. "We mainly just told them about the Planned Parenthood, and unfortunately, I had to educate my children on what an abortion was. They didn't know what that was, but they do now."

Those opposed to the cookie boycott said it was punishing the girls for what was a decision by scout leaders at the very top. Besides, everybody loves a good cookie.

Bill Thrasher is the general manager of Christian radio station KBDE-FM in Waco. He agreed to carry public service announcements about the cookie boycott on his station.

Thrasher says the boycott was more about educating the public than about hurting the kids' cookie sale. He said, "It was risky, but you know, we felt we had to take that risk, because it was important to save the lives of unborn children in our community. And to help protect young people, especially children, you know, sixth, seventh grade, from this explicit sexual education that Planned Parenthood is providing them in this community."

But the connection between Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood goes much deeper than this one small community.

When confronted with the issue on The Today Show, the CEO of Girl Scouts USA, Kathy Cloninger said, "We have relationships with our church communities, with YMCAs, and with Planned Parenthood organizations across the country, to bring information-based sex education programs to girls."

That peaked the interest of Jim Sedlack, the head of the American Life Leagues' Stopp International. He noticed that Cloninger never mentioned how many, or which troops, were cooperating with Planned Parenthood.

Sedlack said, "That started our project, because parents around the country, after hearing this, began calling our office and saying, 'Well, does my Girl Scout [council] cooperate with Planned Parenthood?' And, of course, we didn't know at the time. So we started a research project to try and find out which Girl Scout councils are involved with Planned Parenthood, and which are not."

The question they would ask by e-mail, and many times by phone, is, "Does your Girl Scout council have any relationship with Planned Parenthood"? But many of the 315 Girl Scout councils refused to participate in the survey.

Sedlack says he thinks the head office in New York told the local councils not to answer. He said, "They sent a message saying, don't answer Stop's questions and don't cooperate with this investigation. We've had a couple of Girl Scout's CEOs from around the country tell us that they received this instruction."

About 99 of the 315 Girl Scout councils responded to the survey. Of those 99 councils, 23 percent said they have some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.

And in some Girl Scout councils, kids can even work towards earning their "becoming a teen badge" by attending lectures and seminars given by Planned Parenthood.

The Girl Scouts denied CBN News an on-camera interview, but did offer us a statement in response to the Stopp international survey. They said, "Councils generally don't respond to such actions, so that they may better keep their limited resources focused on their mission of serving girls and inspiring girls to their higher ideals."

But it seems many Christian parents do not agree with those "ideals," now that they have discovered the association with an abortion provider.

Coody said, "Well, as long as your daughter still wears that seal on her vest, that means she's part of that organization, which means that she agrees with what's going on within it. I'm not going to expose my children to that, and I hope that other mothers would understand the issues and not expose their children."

Armed with this new information, many parents, like the Coodys, have opted for Christian alternatives to the Girl Scouts.

Awanas, Pioneer Clubs and the Junior Catholic Daughters are some options, as well as the Coodys' choice, American Heritage Girls.

And the will be watching to see whether their stand will at all alter the course of the Girl Scouts, a group that at one time represented their values.

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