Walking past an abortion clinic on the way to buy milk this morning, we were stopped by a wide-eyed lady with an armful of literature who looked us and gasped, "You girls aren't going in there, are you?!"
 
We told her obviously not. 
 
"Good," she said, placing her hand on her heart and sighing in relief, "I don't know if I could take that this morning..."
 
We laughed nervously and walked away through the rows on nuns on both sides of the side walk (praying) and onwards to the gas station.  On the way an  interesting discussion ensued, about what difference, if any, these people in front of the abortion clinics are making, whether their 11th hour appeals to the women who enter these clinics do, in fact, save any lives.  The problem is complicated, and the nuns outside the clinic seem to be a little late in their attempt to prevent abortions from happening, especially when you consider that the best way to prevent abortion is to prevent unwanted pregnancy.  I'm sure the Catholic group that those nuns are part of have some sort of abstinence  program for their youth, and they might be trying to advocate chastity, but I don't know how far they'll get when their teenagers are dressing like prostitutes. 
 
I'm not saying that to be mean, and I know it sounds pretty shocking, but a perusal of the mall (and of the mall-goers as well) revealed that tiny combinations of black and pink with stiletto heels are all the rage.  I've never seen shorter shorts or so many fleshy half-moons hanging out of said shorts.  I could be accused of over simplifying the problem here, and of saying that dressing like a prostitute makes you act like a prostitute, but that's not what I'm trying to say.  I'm not saying that at all, actually.  What I'm getting at is that if these nuns, these well-meaning and God-fearing people want to prevent abortions, then they need to prevent the pregnancies, and if they want to prevent the pregnancies, then they need to prevent the sex, and if they want to prevent that, then they need to take it off the teenagers' minds, and if they want to do that, they better put some clothes on these little girls because apparently a pair of shorts with 'Hot Stuff' written on the seat are not conducive to modesty and chastity and all that nice stuff.
 
The woman in front of the abortion clinic with the flyers was shocked that three young women dressed as we were, in modest clothing and head scarves, would be headed for abortions.  Apparently she knows what I'm getting at.  Someone else understands the link between modest dress and modest behavior (though it isn't always 100%).  So why are they so reluctant to acknowledge the darker side of that link, that IMmodest dress leads to IMmodest behavior?
 
Some truths are less obvious than others.   
 

posted by Abez @ 7/17/2004 08:00:00 PM