For Girl Scouts leaders, responding to criticism during the annual cookie sale seems to have become as routine as helping the youngsters sell the sweets.

The latest charge comes from an old foe of the Girl Scouts, Pro-Life Waco, a Texas organization that supports restrictions on abortions.

The Pro-Life Waco group is urging a nationwide boycott of the cookies to send a message about what they see as a say-one-thing, do-another-thing policy at the Girl Scouts national headquarters.

Promoted online, in radio ads and fliers as “CookieCott,” the campaign stems from social media posts by Girl Scouts of USA that Pro-Life Waco interpreted as promoting politicians who support abortion rights, including Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

“People have free speech, but we do want honesty,” said organizer John Pisciotta, a retired Baylor University economics professor and Pro-Life Waco member. “Officially, they take no position on abortion and birth control, so you wouldn’t expect to see a whole bunch of pro-abortioners celebrated – absolutely not.”

The efforts have frustrated Girl Scouts officials, though there’s scant evidence that the calls for a boycott will be heeded when door-to-door sales begin Saturday.

In recent years, various advocates have called for cookie boycotts because of the organization’s tolerance of transgender youths and lesbians and the use of palm oils and trans fats in the cookies.

 


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