Not surprisingly, the Girl Scouts deny the allegations that they helped Planned Parenthood hand out sexually explicit materials during a conference held at the UN earlier this month (see What are the Girl Scouts Supporting?).
According the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), the Girls Scouts have denied placing that material in the meeting room and they have stated that C-FAM’s source was not in the room during the Girl Scouts meeting.
In a press release, C-FAM rebuts the claims of the Girl Scouts thus:
1. The Girl Scouts imply another group left the literature prior to their panel. Understand that the Girl Scout meeting was on opening day of the conference (March 1), which means the room was clean of all literature that morning.
There were four other meetings in that room that day prior to the Girl Scouts meeting. At 10 am the NAACP had a meeting about climate change. At noon the UN had an orientation meeting for NGOs attending the conference. At 2 pm CORAID had a meeting about counterterrorism and women.
Very clearly, none of these meetings were on adolescent topics, which was the target audience of the sex guide.
2. The Girl Scouts say we were not in the room. That is true. All non-Scout adults were thrown out prior the meeting; and no wonder given what was distributed there. However, even though our source was thrown out of the room, she stayed around and as the doors opened she went right in to see what was being distributed. It was there and then that she found the stack of dangerous sex brochures.
Maybe it’s just me, but…isn’t it interesting that, although they are denying any connection with the distribution of the brochure, the Girl Scouts have not decried the contents of the brochure? Does the Girl Scouts organization really support what is presented in that brochure? If not, then they need to say so. But their silence on the brochure itself can, and should, be taken as support of it. And that’s where you need to tell the leadership of the Girl Scouts that this is wrong for our daughters in the US and around the world.
A simple rule of thumb when trying to figure out who is being truthful and who is lying is to ask yourself, “Who has the most to lose if the truth comes out?”
Click here to read the entire C-FAM press release. Click here if you haven’t read the IPPF brochure and want to see what all the fuss is about.
Speaking 4 Life 
The Girl Scouts have no official stance on family planning. I prefer it that way. Their silence shows nothing except what you want to read into it.
Phil, thanks for your comment. I ask you to please read the brochure in question (there is a link in the post). The brochure has nothing to do with “family planning,” rather, it has everything to do with promoting promiscuity. Among other things, the brochure encourages people who are HIV positive NOT to tell their partners of their status, thereby putting their sexual partners’ lives in danger; and the brochure also encourages girls to have sex while drunk or on drugs without telling of the risks such as being incapable of making a conscious decision or being vulnerable to an assault by a predator (quoted from brochure): “Some people have sex when they have been drinking alcohol or using drugs. This is your choice.”
I disagree with your statement that their silence doesn’t mean anything. The fact that they are trying to disassociate themselves from the distribution of the brochures says they are are fearful that the content of the brochure will damage their reputation. It’s a red herring to make a big deal about how the brochures were distributed but remain silent on the content of the brochure itself. If they think the content could harm their reputation, and they are not in agreement with the content, then why wouldn’t they say that publicly in order to mitigate the damage to their reputation?
The Girl Scouts’ silence on the content implies agreement with the content, which means they have taken a stance on sexual activity by adolescent girls. And I don’t prefer it that way as I have young female family members who will be at risk physically, emotionally, and spiritually if exposed to this kind of sexual aggrandizement.
On the contrary Phil, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) of which GSUSA is a big member, does take a stance on family planning and sex education, and does not simply leave it to families and the girls do decided for themselves.
You can see for yourself what the WAGGGS delegates were openly advocating for, including safe, universal abortion for all young people, on the WAGGGS webpage and their onwn postings on the recent Commission on the Status of Women at http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/CSW54/Day6 and the position that WAGGGS supports and acvocates for.
Agreeing with Jim, I’m an older Girl Scout that found this page on accident while researching to give a presentation on WAGGGS’ four world centers, and the Girl Scouts organization, unlike our counterpoint for the boys, does not have a specific stance we force onto girls or their families as that is very much a personal matter. However, something you seem to have missed in your blog posts on the Girl Scouts is that the Girl Scouts is not a Christian or Catholic organization, and has no priority to enforce a set of “Catholic/Christian ethics”. Of course you are entitled to your beliefs about what is wrong, right, moral or otherwise, but the Girl Scouts derides much of what it talks about (and there are very specific guidelines for being able to discuss sexuality, safe sex, things of that nature) from a humanistic and medical standpoint, not to mention guidelines set up by the UN and associated organizations. You might disagree, and you are certainly welcome to try and spread a boycott of the Girl Scouts if that is what you feel you need to do, but the ethics you endorse are not by any measure the agreed upon correct morals or the morals that need to be forced upon anyone else. By simply telling girls the hard facts (something that can only even be done with parents explicit permission, and yes, sometimes mistakes – like the pamphlet being handed out – do happen) this enables the girls to then discuss with their family/spiritual leader/other people in their lives what they personally feel is the correct course of action for living their lives.
I’ve read the pamphlet, and obviously you disagree, but their is a very recognized right for sexual and reproductive health that the pamphlet advocates. Teaching people how to live with issues that regularly cause conflict in the lives of those afflicted helps them to live safely and without unnecessary burden. Contrary to your beliefs, Planned Parenthood does not advocate abortion on the go, but recognizes it is a difficult decision and offers a safe procedure that will not harm any parties physically (except for the rare accidents, of course). Planned Parenthood also does not advocate keeping sexual activity a secret from those involved, as you indicated while quoting “You should find out whether there are any centers near to you where you can go without needing the permission of your parents or guardians.”, but recognizes (like most STD facilties and health clinics) that oftentimes teenagers need to be able to check on STD’s and other health information without their parents, or just that they would be too scared to get checked if their parents knew.