Girls Picket with their dolls at American Girl Place in Chicago [Photo by EJS]
The Pro-Life Action League led a picket of American Girl Place in Chicago on Friday, Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving which traditionally marks the begining of the Christmas shopping season. Fifty volunteers braved the cold downtown winds to hold picket signs and pass out literature [PDF] on American Girl’s financial support of the pro-abortion group Girls Incorporated and the League’s boycott.
The picket line was dominated by girls and young women holding Girls for Life signs. Many also carried their own American Girl dolls, who held miniature Girls for Life signs. These girls provided a powerful witness of what it really means for girls to be “strong, smart and bold”—the Girls Inc. motto.
Many mothers and grandmothers picketed too, with signs reading Moms for Life, as well as fathers and grandfathers with Dads for Life signs. Other League volunteers held signs declaring NO Girls Inc./NO American Girl and passed out flyers to families entering American Girl Place and other downtown shopppers.
“Strong, Smart, Bold” girls are pro-life [Photo by Dan Gura]
Media, Abortion Advocates and American Girl Respond
During the picket, League spokeswoman Ann Scheidler spoke to reporters from CNN and CBS News, and several camera crews filmed the protest. Scheidler later appeared live on CNN’s Paula Zahn Show for an interview on the protest of American Girl.
A tiny group of three or four counter-protestors stood off to the side with NARAL signs, helping to make our point that American Girl is supporting abortion through its financial contributions to Girls Inc. One of the pro-abortion group was observed entering American Girl Place numerous times and seemed to be on friendly terms with store staff and security.
American Girl issued a statement to the press denouncing our use of graphic images, threatening tactics and narrow political agenda. No graphic pictures were used in the protest, which was entirely peaceful and had nothing whatsoever to do with politics.
Similar protests are planned for American Girl Place in Chicago on Saturday, December 3 and in New York on Saturday, December 10.
More Information and Resources
- Learn more about the American Girl’s links to Girls Inc.
- Learn about the League’s boycott of American Girl
- Learn about some pro-life alternatives to American Girl
- Sign the League’s Boycott Pledge—Let your voice heard!
- Read the League’s press releases on American Girl and Girls Inc.
- Straight Talk Radio interview with Ann Scheidler about the boycott
