The Girl Scouts and International Planned Parenthood Federation

Background Facts:

• At a United Nations conference in March 2010, Girl Scouts of the USA was the main sponsor of a “Girls Only” workshop. Their co-sponsors were UNICEF, Girls Learn International, and The Grail. (Click here for more information on these three organizations.)
  
  
• Sharon Slater, the president of Family Watch International, reported that she picked up copies of the sexually explicit “Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet published by International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in the back of the Girl Scouts UN meeting room.
  
  
• “Healthy, Happy and Hot” is aimed at adolescents and young adults and promotes sexual pleasure, contains graphic information on sex and sexuality, and encourages masturbation, among other things. The booklet mentions having sex when drunk, “talking dirty,” and depicts both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. It tells HIV-positive youth that it is a violation of their rights to have to inform their sexual partners they are infected.
  
  
• Due to the media attention surrounding this controversy, the Girl Scouts issued statements saying they do not partner with or have any “relationship” with [International] Planned Parenthood and that they did not distribute the Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet.
  
  
• At this UN conference, however, Girl Scouts of the USA was working closely with their main affiliate, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (also known as WAGGGS), and WAGGGS has a “close partnership” with International Planned Parenthood (IPPF), the publisher of the controversial “Healthy, Happy and Hot” publication.

(See the Girl Scouts and Pro-Abortion WAGGGS section of this website to learn disturbing information about the controversial issues WAGGGS promotes and the close financial relationship between WAGGGS and GSUSA.)

• Joshua Ackley, spokesperson for Girl Scouts of the USA, was part of the WAGGGS delegation at this UN conference and was Girl Scouts of the USA’s adult representative in the “Girls Only” UN workshop. (Click here to see some disturbing information about Joshua Ackley.)

Click here to see where Joshua states on GSUSA’s blog that he was part of the WAGGGS delegation.

Click here to listen to Joshua state he was in the “Girls Only” workshop and then claim the explicit International Planned Parenthood “pamphlets” were not there. (This conversation between GSUSA headquarters and members of the Missouri Girl Scout Council was taped with permission.)

• The relationship between GSUSA’s affiliate WAGGGS and International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) can be documented at least as far back as 1990when Girl Scouts participated in an IPPF projectcalled “Xall Yoon.” This IPPF project involved “training youth leaders in . . . sex education, contraception, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), pregnancy, and sexual relations . . .”
  
  
• In addition to working closely with Girl Scouts of the USA at this UN conference, WAGGGS partnered with the the World YWCA, an organization that also distributes the “Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet. Click here to see where “Healthy, Happy and Hot” is prominently displayed on the World YWCA website.

Question: If the Girl Scouts did not distribute the “Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet at the UN why won’t GSUSA denounce the booklet as requested by some of their concerned members and make it clear that “Healthy, Happy and Hot” is something GSUSA would never support?

Question: Since at this UN conference, GSUSA was partnering with WAGGGS, and WAGGGS partners with at least two other organizations that distribute “Healthy, Happy and Hot,” is it not possible that through these connections the “Healthy, Happy and Hot” booklet could have been brought to the Girl Scouts “Girls Only” Workshop?

Question: Why do the Girl Scouts continue to work closely with and provide substantial support for WAGGGS if WAGGGS partners with IPPF and the World WYCA, and other organizations that promote the controversial sexual rights found in “Healthy, Happy, and Hot?”

Question: Are Girl Scout families aware that GSUSA funds the participation of WAGGGS delegates in UN meetings and caucuses where they work alongside representatives of organizations like International Planned Parenthood Federation and the World YWCA?

IPPF’s publication “Exclaim!” lists some of the controversial sexual rights that WAGGGS and their UN partners promote at the United Nations.

Question: Since International Planned Parenthood is widely known for publishing highly controversial materials such as “Healthy, Happy and Hot” and “Exclaim!” (publications that tell youth they have a right to experiment with various dangerous sex acts, which are explicitly described), why does GSUSA refuse to ask their councils to cut ties with anything associated with International Planned Parenthood, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America?

Question: Knowing all the controversy surrounding International Planned Parenthood, why did Girl Scouts of the USA appoint Ellen S. Fox who also serves on the International Planned Parenthood Investment Committee as a member of the Girl Scout National Board of Directors?

Click here to receive Girl Scout Alerts that will keep you
updated on important developments.