As Girl Scout cookie selling season reaches its peak, some anti-abortion groups across the country are aiming to take a bite out of the organization’s cookie sales.
Pro-Life Waco, a Texas anti-abortion organization, is leading a “cookie-cott” based on a tweet from the Girl Scouts account about a Huffington Post article that named Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, a pro-abortion rights advocate who filibustered a Texas law restricting the procedure, one of its Women of the Year.
The Girl Scouts of the USA does not take a political stance on issues such as abortion, but boycott leaders say that the group has undergone a left-leaning shift in recent years.
“There has been a decades-long concern over the drift of the Girl Scouts towards a support for pro-abortion activists,” said John Pisciotta, director of Pro-Life Waco.
“We boycotted Girl Scout cookies in 2004 over their support for a scheme headed by Planned Parenthood, and we will do so again.”
Girl Scouts representatives said the tweet did not constitute a political stance and that the boycott is based on misinformation.
“We do not feel it is our role to advocate for personal matters,” said Krista Park, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Coastal Pines Girl Scouts Council. “The boycott is based upon misinformation on what the Girl Scouts stand for.”
She said the cookie program promotes essential life skills for girls, not politics.
“The cookie program is an important part of the skills we try and pass on to our girls,” she said. “It is about building confidence and skills in the business world, which will help them later on in life. The Girl Scouts do not have a connection to Planned Parenthood and never have. We hope people will continue to support us through this time.”
