Options ignored in unwanted pregnancy

Re “A Puzzling Trail to USC Baby Death,” Oct. 25

I read your article on Holly Ashcraft with much sadness and frustration. As a woman who is undergoing fertility procedures with the hope of conceiving a first child, I admit I have no sympathy for her. She has been a resident of this city for the last few years, yet she didn’t bother to call social services for assistance with her unwanted pregnancy.

Unlike many young women, she had a support system of friends and extended family members but did not turn to them. Her university (USC) has systems in place to provide counseling or medical care, if only she had bothered to find them. And finally, because Ashcraft had previously been pregnant and carried to term, she would have recognized the physical symptoms once they began happening again. Yet she still did nothing. The biggest problem in this young woman’s life seems to have been assuming responsibility for her behavior. Now that an infant is dead, will Ashcraft finally be held accountable?

SUSAN CROTEAU

Venice