Pro-Lifers Want You to Stop Buying Girl Scout Cookies. Here's Why They're Wrong.

Impact

The Girl Scouts can't seem to catch a break. It's not enough to hawk their sweet delectables every much-anticipated cookie season, but they're being used as a political pawn yet again.

This time, because they're supposedly too "pro-abortion" for some conservatives.

The controversy began with a couple seeminly innocuous Facebook and Twitter posts, in which the Girl Scouts linked to articles featuring "Incredible Ladies Who Should Be Women of the Year" and "Women Who Made a Difference in 2013." 

The reason why the Scouts' Tweet set off some conservatives is because these articles featured Texas State Senator Wendy Davis and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius among the listed women, which according to people like Fox News' Megyn Kelly, imply their endorsement of the pro-choice politicians. 

Unlike their statement in 2011 on the right of transgender youth to be welcomed as Girl Scouts, this time, however, the Girl Scouts never explicitly endorsed either Davis or Sebelius' policies. 

Girl Scouts need positive, strong female role models. The organization isn't trying to make a political statement, for goodness sake, just celebrating the accomplishments of these women.

Such role models are the kind that inspire scouts to create change — like make the group's cookie production more sustainable and animal-friendly by dealing with sustainable palm oil sources — a feat accomplished by two Michigan Girl Scouts who were concerned about the harmful effect of widespread deforestation from expanding palm oil plantations on the native orangutan population in Sumatra.

Boycotting the Scouts only hurts the young girls that it's helping teach how to change the world.

It's doubtful that the creation of "CookieCott 2014" will do much to curb people's appetites for Thin Mints, Samoas, or Tagalongs, thankfully. The group behind the boycott, by the way, spurns the Girl Scouts' promotion of role models like Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton, and groups like Amnesty International and the ACLU. But anyway, thanks, CookieCott, for reminding me to buy even more cookies this year.