I had a post up earlier, don't know if you saw, about Girl Scouts and an apparent relationship between them and Planned Parenthood. I felt the need to take it down because I wasn't sure what was going on and didn't want to put out false information.
I'm still not sure what's going on, but I did find more info on the net and our troop leader disseminated some info to us so we could pass it on to others who may have questions. Essentially, we had people telling some of our parents that they were not going to buy cookies because they heard we had a relationship with Planned Parenthood and they didn't want to support it.
I know that Girl Scouts started off with a different purpose, a Christian feel. To associate with Planned Parenthood is not something I feel is Christian because it doesn't teach our girls to be responsible when it comes to sex. Other parents may feel it is OK because that's how they want to raise their children, but I don't feel it's a good fit for me.
The other part of this is that it is a troop thing. The troop leader decides what activities to do and what not to do. So if I stick to being troop leader, my girls will be OK? Probably. But do I associate them with Girl Scouts if this organization has changed and now thinks Planned Parenthood provides our girls with the "right" kind of sex education?
If you want more info on this, here are a couple of links. The first will take you to a transcript from back in 2004 about CEO Kathy Croninger and an interview on the Today Show about this. It started with a troop in Waco, Texas. Apparently this troop had some sex ed stuff going on that was pretty graphic: homosexuality, masturbation, condom use, the works. So the parents were upset. To be fair here, we don't know who dropped the communication ball. So either the parents weren't fully informed, or they didn't read everything they should. Either way, the girls got some education the parents weren't happy about. Read the transcript here.
Also read this from another troop mom from 2004.
1 comment:
Well, I decided yesterday not to continue my leadership with Girl Scouts. And to be honest, it had nothing to do with the Planned Parenthood thing, at least I don't think so. It did get me thinking though. And while I think Girl Scouts can be a powerful tool to get our girls going in the right direction, so can I and her dad. I felt like my daughter and I were doing good things, but it was separate from the family unit. I want to do things *together.* Anyway, now I have to decide on whether or not to keep her in it for next year....
Post a Comment