Tag United Nations

If it Seems Like I’m Picking on the Girl Scouts…

Ed 5 Comments

…maybe it’s because I am.  Or more precisely their poor choice of partners, specifically Planned Parenthood.  Until the Girl Scouts acknowledge that an organization that is supposed to edify girls is at odds with itself when they support organizations like Planned Parenthood that promote sexual promiscuity (with all its attendant risks such as STIs, emotional and psychological fallout) and abortion, information like this needs to be disseminated.

Planned Parenthood says that “Healthy, Happy and Hot” has become their most popular booklet.  It was handed out at the World Youth Conference in August and early this year at a Girl Scouts USA sponsored event at the UN. A recent online post by the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute sums up parts of the booklet thusly:

Aimed at young people with HIV, the brochure contains sexually explicit language and promotes casual sex with multiple partners, as well as oral, anal, and homosexual sex.

“Some people like to have aggressive sex,” says the brochure.  “There is no right or wrong way to have sex.”    It encourages young people who might have sex after drinking or using drugs to “plan ahead by bringing condoms.”  Another section suggests readers visit family planning clinics for help in preventing or aborting unplanned pregnancies.

The publication encourages youth to keep their sexual activity secret from their parents, as well as visits to family planning clinics.  “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.”

Girl Scouts USA continues to refuse to decry the booklet and it continues to deny that the booklet was given out at their event earlier this year (even though reported by a reliable witness).

The Girl Scouts Deny the Allegations

Ed 7 Comments

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.

What are the Girl Scouts Supporting?

Ed 4 Comments

A disturbing news item was recently published by the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) about the activities of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). It would appear that WAGGGS worked in cooperation with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to distribute a brochure entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot” at a “no-adults-welcome panel” during a United Nations week-long event (the annual Commission on the Status of Women).

So, what’s so disturbing? Well, firstly, here’s a sample from the brochure quoted from the C-FAM article (click here to read the brochure for yourself; click here to read the C-FAM article):

The brochure claims, “Many people think sex is just about vaginal or anal intercourse… But, there are lots of different ways to have sex and lots of different types of sex. There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself!” The brochure goes on to encourage young people to “Improve your sex life by getting to know your own body. Play with yourself! Masturbation is a great way to find out more about your body and what you find sexually stimulating. Mix things up by using different kinds of touch from very soft to hard. Talk about or act out your fantasies. Talk dirty to them.”

Secondly, although the brochure is targeted at young people with HIV, the problem I have with this is that WAGGGS and IPPF are encouraging sexual immorality and promiscuity around the world via the United Nations. Not only that, but you need to remember what these organizations also consider to be a part of “women’s reproductive rights”–abortion-on-demand. I wrote about that last year in my post entitled Exporting Death.

Thirdly, there’s a slap against pro-lifers from the IPPF brochure:

Some healthcare workers and service providers think that young people or people living with HIV should not have sex. They may let their personal opinions get in the way of providing good information and services. Remember that you have sexual and reproductive rights.

Well, that just makes sense as Planned Parenthood in the US is the largest abortion provider, accounting for approximately 305,300 abortions in 2007 (click here to see their annual report, go to page 9). That’s 25 percent of the estimated 1.2 million abortions performed in the US every year.

The question to ask is this: what is the relationship between  WAGGGS  and your local Girl Scout troop that sells you cookies? The Girl Scouts of the USA has been a full member of WAGGGS since 1928 and are supportive of the policies and positions of WAGGGS (click here to see the member status of GSUSA).

And before I could even get this post written, another related item of interest flashed before my eyes. The Susan B Anthony List blog comments on a UN report entitled “Power, Voice, and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific.” Here are two interesting excerpts from that report as quoted in the SuzyB blog (click here for the entire blog):

“Females cannot take survival for granted,” the report says on page 42. “Asia has the highest male-female sex ratio at birth in the world, with sex-selective abortion and infanticide [emphasis mine] leaving approximately 96 million missing women in seven countries. In most regions, women comprise 51% of the population, but only 49% in Asia-Pacific.”

While the world average for the life expectancy of women is 1.06 years longer than that of men, Asia’s ratio of female-to-male life expectancy is below this average. “This discrepancy stems from a lifetime of gender discrimination, starting from the deliberate abortion of female fetuses [emphasis mine].”

I think it’s curious that the UN is decrying sex-selective abortions in Asia when it was the UN who helped China set up its one-child policy (click here to read Forced Abortion in China). Their own ideologies are contradictory when, on the one hand, they protest sex-selective abortion in Asia and yet, on the other hand, actively support and work with organizations like Planned Parenthood, one of whose main goals is the promotion of abortion-on-demand.

Maybe it’s just me, but…shouldn’t organizations that purport to help girls develop their self-image stop supporting programs that destroy the self-images of girls, and ultimately result in a world-wide cultural view that objectifies girls and women?

How do we turn a blind eye to an organization that might be helping our daughters in our own backyard, but is destroying our values and hurting “all daughters” on a global scale?

[Updated 12 Mar 2010, 1331 EDT]

The Gloating Begins

Ed

The Guttmacher Institute is touting the newly re-found leadership role of the US in promoting reproductive rights around the world–including abortion (see my blog,  “Exporting Death”).

Maybe it’s just me, but…why does it seem that those who want to promote reproductive health and rights around the world don’t ever want to promote the one sure-fire way that someone won’t get an STD or get pregnant: abstinence? Why is it that they won’t teach that it’s okay to not have sex but they will teach that you should be able to indulge in complete sexual freedom despite potential consequences and get an abortion for any reason at any time  if you do get pregnant?

Exporting Death

Ed 3 Comments

Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was awarded the Margaret Sanger award by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In her remarks to the gathering she said, “I want to assure you that reproductive rights and the umbrella issue of women’s rights and empowerment will be a key to the foreign policy of this Administration.”

On this topic, I wholeheartedly agree–I believe that women around the world should have free and unhindered access to photocopiers. They should have the right to reproduce anything they want, any time they want. Why shouldn’t women have the same freedom to reproduce as men? Why shouldn’t…wait a second…oh…oh my…my apologies dear reader, that’s not the type of reproduction that Secretary Clinton was speaking about.

Continue reading “Exporting Death” →