A newly launched boycott of Girl Scout cookies is attracting the attention of those who make them – the bakers who turn out an estimated 100 million boxes annually.
The boycott is being spearheaded by Pro-Life Waco, but has attracted support from some of the biggest names in pro-family and pro-life circles, including the American Family Association and Live Action.
Now a blogger in the Sioux City Journal is noting the impact a boycott could have.
Dave Dreeszen said, “The move, if successful, could have local implications. Girl Scout cookies are a big segment of the products made at the Interbake Foods plant in North Sioux City.”
He explained, “As part of a 2005 expansion, Interbake, through its ABC Bakery division, shifted all of its Girl Scout cookie production to the North Sioux City plant at 1 Devils Food Drive. Interbake, owned by Toronto-based George Weston Ltd, produces more than 100 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies annually.”
WND had reported just a day earlier that Live Action’s Lila Rose, the creative personality behind the organization’s undercover videos that have revealed the truth about the American abortion industry, joined the effort.
Earlier, there was a statement from the American Life League, the nation’s oldest Catholic pro-life education and advocacy group, warning people away from purchasing Girl Scout cookies.
That followed with a statement from AFA, an organization with millions of supporters.
That group said, “It’s hard to say no to those little girls in the green and brown sashes, but buying Girl Scout cookies serves only to further facilitate a very liberal pro-abortion agenda.”
“In 2011, I interviewed ex-Girl Scouts Sydney and Tess Volanski about the GSA’s not-so-secret links to the abortion mentality,” wrote Rose, of Live Action in a message to supporters.
“The problem is only getting worse. The GSA’s adherence to the Big Abortion mentality, from subjecting young girls to Planned Parenthood ‘Healthy, Happy and Hot’ flyers to promoting extremist abortion-activist politicians like Kathleen Sebelius and Wendy Davis, is unfortunate and disturbing.
“This is why I’ve decided to join the pro-life Girl Scout cookie boycott, and why I’m asking you to participate,” wrote Rose, whose organization has established a national reputation for undercover videos that reveal the truth of the abortion industry, from how to avoid abortion laws to concealing the circumstances of statutory rape.
Pro-Life Wisconsin also jumped aboard the campaign. A spokesman for the group said, “They get involved in promoting and advocating for women’s reproductive rights and we know exactly what that stands for. We believe these are issues best left within the confines of the family.”
The plan, spearheaded by Pro-Life Waco, is getting a lot of attention.
Associated Press cited as a reason for the so-called “cookiecott” the fact that Girl Scouts tweets and Facebook postings have linked to articles promoting Democratic Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who filibustered in opposition to safety laws for abortion clinics in the state.
In the Los Angeles Times, a report noted that the scouting group is downsizing, with a membership plunge of from about three million to about two million in the last decade.
With that, the report noted that any controversy and its resulting publicity might be viewed as good for Girl Scouts.
A Girl Scouts spokeswoman, Kelly Parisi, said it was “preposterous that anyone would boycott the Girl Scouts in a misguided effort to score cheap political points.”
But Pro-Life Waco spokesman John Pisciotta, who launched the effort, said the Girl Scouts say their agenda is neutral, so why a promotion to a story about Davis?
“What did Wendy Davis do in 2013 to get notoriety? She did one thing and that was a filibuster against limitations on abortions,” he said.
Rose told supporters, “Remember: Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar enterprise lobbying for physically and psychologically destructive abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
“Live Action recorded Planned Parenthood staff facilitating the destruction of baby girls in the womb, just for being girls. Planned Parenthood regularly fights against laws forbidding sex-selection abortion. The Sebeliuses and the Davises of the world won’t speak out against this injustice.
“As sad as it is to give up the Thin Mints and Tagalongs, our girls deserve better than this,” she said.
“The Girl Scouts was once a trusted organization dedicated to character building in young girls and women. Now, GSUSA is abusing that trust,” said Judie Brown, president of ALL. “Most parents and grandparents remain painfully unaware the GSUSA has introduced so-called ‘family planning’ ideology in its curriculum and promotes groups like Planned Parenthood to our daughters and granddaughters.”
AFA has built a reputation for mobilizing constituents to act on its boycotts, and has special divisions called OneMillionMoms.com and others that specifically work to influence corporate America.
It cited a recent report by Christy Volanski for LifeNews.com.
Volanski’s daughters, Sydney and Tess, created the website Speak Now Girl Scouts, which documents the links between the scouting group and Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion provider in the nation.
She wrote that while Girl Scouts assures concerned members that the national organization has no partnership with Planned Parenthood, it “omits the fact that it allows every local Girl Scout council – the arm of Girl Scouts that actually connects with girl members in their local communities – to work with Planned Parenthood.”
She cited a statement from Girl Scouts spokeswoman Michelle Tompkins affirming that the local connections are possible.
Volanski explained that Girl Scouts of Northern California “refers ‘at risk’ girls to Planned Parenthood for help with family planning,” that “Girl Scouts of San Diego featured a Planned Parenthood ‘Community Engagement Manager’ as a speaker” and that “Girl Scouts of Western New York works with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups in programs aimed at tween/teen girls to reduce teen pregnancy.”
Also, she explains, the group is part of several organizations, including the coalition for Adolescent Girls and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, which advocate for abortion.
Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger also is cited as an “eloquent woman” to young girls, she wrote.
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See what’s really happening with the youth in America, in “Already Gone.”
“As Christy clearly outlines in her article, ‘GSUSA will try to assure you that all the proceeds from cookie sales stay local to benefit girls in their community.’ What they fail to mention is that GSUSA makes millions of dollars each year through licensing fees paid by the baker. It’s money like that that goes to promote the Girl Scout’s partnership with Planned Parenthood,” AFA said.
“When they knock on your door, just say, ‘No, thank you.’ No explanation is needed,” AFA wrote.
ALL leaders suggested one step further.
Executive Director Paul Rondeau told WND it’s important to start informing family and friends who are inclined to purchase the cookies that “at the end of the day, Girl Scout cookies are supporting this agenda.”
“It’s not enough to not buy the cookies,” he said. “Somebody has to know, up the line, why you’re not buying the cookies.”
WND has documented the links between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood.
It was on NBC in 2004 when Kathy Cloning, CEO of the Girl Scouts, admitted the group “partners with Planned Parenthood across the country to bring information based sex education programs to girls.”
Penny Nance, president Concerned Women for America, said her group encourages women to “shop their values.”
“The Girl Scouts of America went off track years ago and I turned in my sash in response,” she said. “Their alliance with Planned Parenthood and the left is not new. Of course we have members who are leaders and choose to try to make the organization better from the inside and we support them in that endeavor. However, I specially chose to not allow my daughter to join. We encourage families of faith to consider alternatives like Heritage Girls and others.”
Nance said the Girl Scouts “for a long time have been promoting an agenda that is contrary to their founding principles as well as what is best of girls’ well-being.”
Concerned Women for America’s Janice Shaw Crouse said Girl Scout policy on sexual morality, “which focuses on self-discovery and protection rather than sexual abstinence, is a major problem when STDs are rampant among 15-25-year-olds and teen pregnancy while not increasing remains too high.”
“The Girl Scouts formerly embraced the Judeo-Christian values that Americans once grew up with – love of God, love of country, treating others fairly and living wholesome lives. Now, Girl Scouts are more focused on indoctrinating girls on the so-called women’s rights agenda,” she said.
WND has reported on a variety of activities on the part of Girl Scouts that conservatives and religious believers might find objectionable, including when the organization was found touting a pro-abortion politician.
Girl Scouts also marched in a homosexual promotion in San Francisco and were found to be removing “God” from their “Girl Scout Promise.”
They also have incorporated stone labyrinths, global warming, yoga, avatars, smudging incense, Zen gardens and lesbian role models into their teachings.
In a lesson called “Amaze: The Twists and Turns of Getting Along,” girls were taught that they should read Buddha and explore mazes and stone or dirt labyrinths – symbols rooted in pagan mythology and popular within the New Age movement as meditation tools.
They also were introduced to Polish poet Anna Swir, known for her feminist and erotic poems, and Jane Addams, an ardent feminist and pacifist.
WND also has reported on numerous “whistleblower” forums that strive to expose the truth behind the Girl Scouts agenda.
One website documenting the perversion to which Girl Scouts are exposed, SpeakNowGirlScouts.com, says: “This is not your mother’s Girl Scouts any longer.”