By: Drew Zahn
A witness who attended the 54th session of United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women has unleashed a firestorm of controversy after reporting copies of Planned Parenthood's teen-sex promoting guide, "Healthy, Happy and Hot," were provided for Girl Scouts in attendance.
The Girl Scouts organization, in turn, has issued a denial statement, distancing itself from any involvement in "family planning," despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Sharon Slater of Family Watch International and Stand for the Family was at the New York City event when organizers ushered all adults – save for one from each of seven sponsoring organizations – out of the room for a "girls only workshop" that the Girl Scouts of the USA reports 30-35 teenage girls attended.
Slater told WND when the doors opened at the conclusion of the workshop, she went back in and found the "Hot" brochure among various materials made available on the back table.
The guide itself, produced by the International Planned Parenthood Federation for young people with HIV, depicts both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, contains graphic details on "exploring" sexuality and encourages casual sex in many forms.
"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," the guide states. "There is no right or wrong way to have sex."
It continues, "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."
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Slater further told WND the brochures appeared again a few days later at a panel discussion for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, or WAGGGS, of which Girl Scouts of the USA is a member organization.
"I had team of 30 volunteers monitoring meetings, and I sent two volunteers to another event in the same building by WAGGGS, " Slater told WND. "The packets were on their table also; our volunteers picked up a copy."
A spokesperson for Girls Scouts of the USA, however, referred to an official statement denying distribution of any IPPF brochures:
"The girls received a copy of the only document they were working on, titled 'The Girls' Statement,'" the spokesperson quoted. "No other documents were given to the girls as part of this event."
Where, then, did the brochures on the back table come from?
"The room in question was also used to host other events over the course of the multi-day conference," the statement explains. "Prior to our girls entering the room, we did not 'sanitize' the room to ensure that no trash or other items were left behind."
Slater, however, disputes the explanation, as the "girls only workshop" was held on the first day of the conference, and the only events held earlier in the day in the same room were on climate change, orientation for non-governmental organizations and counterterrorism – not meetings likely to leave behind brochures on teenage girls' sexuality.
The statement also fails to explain where the brochures made available for the second WAGGGS event originated.
Furthermore, the statement insists, "The Girl Scout organization does not take a position on family planning. Our membership is a cross-section of America with regard to opinions on religious and social issues and practices. We believe these matters are best decided by girls and their families."
Yet on the sixth day of the U.N. commission event, WAGGGS brought together young people from over 20 nations to draft a statement advocating for "sexual and reproductive rights."
Included in the rights, services and supplies "demanded" by the group were the following, according to the WAGGGS website:
All young people must have access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception and emergency contraception, in order to avoid unintended pregnancies.
Accessible, affordable and safe abortions should be made part of the minimum packages of sexual and reproductive health services.
All young people should have access to psycho-social health services for prevention of gender-based violence and violence against women.
And despite claiming to "not take a position on family planning," national Girl Scouts leaders have admitted in the past to widespread partnerships with organizations like Planned Parenthood.
In 2004, after parents and activists waged a boycott of the famous Girl Scout cookies over the organization's distribution of a Planned Parenthood book listing nine "good reasons" that women have abortions, Girl Scout CEO Katy Cloninger defended the association on national television:
"We have relationships with our church communities, with YWCAs and with Planned Parenthood organizations across the country, to bring information-based sex education programs to girls," Cloninger told "Today" show co-host Lester Holt. "It's really impossible for girls to grow up in today's society without having access to good information. And so we will continue to partner with organizations across this nation, and local community Girl Scouts will make decisions based on their local community partnerships and the local needs of both the girls and their families."
Slater told WND she would rather see the Scouts denounce the "Healthy, Happy and Hot" brochure than continue denying it.
"I have no way of knowing if anyone there was from the IPPF, but someone put that brochure on the table for the girls to pick up and read," Slater said. "If they really don't have a position on family planning, and if they insist that they had nothing to do with the sex education manual, then they need to make public statement denouncing it, to say it was inappropriate and, 'We would not have supported it, had we known it was going to be made available.'"
Through her Stand for the Family website, Slater is planning to call on parents and Girls Scouts supporters to wage an e-mail campaign demanding the Girl Scouts of the USA organization disassociate from WAGGGS and Planned Parenthood, "so parents who want to send their girls to the Girl Scouts can know their daughters aren't being given these kinds of materials."
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