[Sundae]

Much as I respect you Spexx, I just can't see this lady - or her baby - as a victim of mainstream America.

Why?

Because if this lady (I hesitate to say girl, seems patronising) was raised in middle class mainstream America then one of the attitudes she would have absorbed would be a sentimental approach to children and the belief that every mother should and would give their life for their child. (This is not a criticism of American culture - it is a generalised comment on Western values)

If she was able to go against that in order to leave her newborn baby in a bag and not tell anyone, surely she would have been capable of going against any perceived opinion on having the child aborted or giving it up for adoption, or raising the child herself.

My suggestion is that she was simply overwhelmed and either mentally and emotionally incapable of facing up to the situation, or struck by severe post-partum depression that clouded her judgement.

All cultures have similar stories.