Teens' portrayal distorted

Money cannot buy love but having a certain amount of wealth can buy people's opinions -- or at least it seems that way in the case of Amy Grossberg and her boyfriend Brian C. Peterson, Jr.

Grossberg gave birth to a baby in a motel. She and Peterson, both 18, put it in a plastic bag and then threw it away in a dumpster.

Though it is shocking, this scenario is not an unfamiliar one.

Countless numbers of distraught, unmarried mothers have killed their newborn babies or abandoned them. But these misguided women have all been betrayed as disgraceful murderers who should be condemned for their crimes.

The main differences between Peterson and Grossberg and the other nameless, faceless women is that these two are college students and their parents are financially secure.

The other women remain unknown because they are in an impoverished cluster of women who do not warrant sympathy. This society points to them as uneducated, undeserving hoodlums who are living in a cesspool. They are pitied in this respect.

But for these two college students, for whom their futures seem to be promising, the pity they are gathering comes out of sorrow.

The general opinion has been that these two intelligent, well-to-do teens must be under great duress to do such a heinous act. The media and this society has painted these two as innocents that had nowhere to go.

But what about the sympathy for all the women and men who have to face a situation they are not prepared for.

Either these two teens are seen and tried as murderers like the women in this same situation or everyone faced with this dilemma is given a chance to be spared.