Student accused of killing newborn

[kid a]

This is a very sad story. Holly was a student in my English class during her high school freshman year when I was in Billings - teaching at West High.

"Student accused of killing newborn"

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2005/10/14/build/local/45-ashcraft.inc


October 14, 2005

Last modified October 14, 2005 - 12:38 am

Student accused of killing newborn

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - A 2003 West High graduate was charged Thursday with murder after allegedly leaving her newborn son in a box next to a trash bin where he was found dead.

Holly Ashcraft, 21, of Billings and a University of Southern California student, was charged with one count of murder and one count of child abuse, Deputy District Attorney Efrain Aceves said.

Ashcraft, who was arrested Wednesday, made a court appearance Thursday, but her arraignment was postponed to Nov. 9. If convicted, she would face 25 years to life in prison.

Superior Court Judge David Sotelo ordered Ashcraft jailed on $2 million bail after the prosecution asked that her initial $1 million bail be doubled.

[Tace]

1. Tragic

But the gal needs medical attention -- not incarceration.

[Maat]

2. THIS is what happens ..

when young adults don't get proper sex/family education in school, that includes a unit on child abuse/neglect.

THIS is what happens when they don't have proper access to family planning counseling and birth control.

I see it every day (now, through working for a defense firm).

This retired social worker picked up many abandoned infants - fortunately, those on my caseload survived.

THIS (I might get flamed) is what happens when our society swings toward a Religious-Hardright orientation, replete with 'abstinence only' education.

Of course, I'm talking in general.

I don't know the circumstances of this particular case. Original Poster does, and maybe can enlighten us WHERE our society went wrong with this young adult.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

4. Wow...

In TOTAL agreement...

:yourock:

:applause:

[Maat]

24. No, you . ..

:yourock:

HeeHee.

Seriously, I hope this society begins to closely consider the potential ramifications of allowing the Religious Hardright decide our educational and social policy.

[brmdp3123]

7. She was 21 years old and a college student, for crying out loud!

Do you really think that she didn't know what would happen if she had sex?

Yes, it's very sad, but I don't think it's a lack of education.

[LisaL]

9. Exactly. By all means, she is an adult.

I mean, it's one excuse after another when someone commits a crime. Mental illness, blah, blah, blah. How does anyone gets send to prison is beyond my understanding.

[Maat]

23. I see your point ... but I wonder if this isn't the end result of ..

years of being misguided about the need for planning.

[FreedomAngel82]

28. I think there

should be a place where young woman such as the person in the article can go and anonymously drop their child off instead of how the young woman did. That way no harm is done. And yes there needs to be sex education and to have available condoms, birth control etc. You can't ignore things like this and that people do have sex.

[Greyhound]

32. See #31. n/t

[Maat]

33. Well, we have that program in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties ...

in Calif.; I believe that we have it statewide.

I'm not sure what happened here.

[AirmensMom]

3. Yes, very sad.

:cry:

[Sapphire Blue]

5. Alternative to abandonment - Safe Place for Newborns

Safe Place for Newborns: http://www.safeplacefornewborns.com /

Toll Free Crisis Line: 1-877-440-2229

Individual state's laws & info/FAQ's: http://www.safeplacefornewborns.com/statemap.html (Includes locations where babies can be taken)

How you can help: http://www.safeplacefornewborns.com/support.html

[China_cat]

6. But our kids are not permitted to be given

these numbers or even the information that this exists because it deviates from the abstinence only program. (If you are abstinent you don't need to know)

Our local stations won't even air PSA's about it.

How are you supposed to take advantage of something you don't know exists?

[LisaL]

10. Not permitted? Young people are computer savvy. At 21, she could

get on the net and find any info she wants. Yet, it's one excuse after another.

[China_cat]

11. Like I said, how do you know what to look for

if you have no idea that such a thing exists?

[LisaL]

13. Oh for crying out loud. Unless she was living under a rock, she

should know by 21 that she has other options other than killing her baby.
And search engines exist for those who don't exactly know what to look for.
I mean, she knew enough to get to college. It's ridiculous to even suggest she had no idea that she could do other things instead of killing her newborn.

[China_cat]

17. First, did she actively kill the baby

or did she leave it where she thought someone else would find it but didn't? There's a difference and the OP doesn't really say.

Second, I know you would like to believe that kids who are seemingly intelligent wouldn't be so stump dumb but maybe you should try working with pregnant teenagers sometime. I do and the level of ignorance about their bodies among otherwise very bright young women is appalling. They KNOW what they know from what they've been told by their mothers, their sisters, their girlfriends and this is all they 'need' to know and they can't understand why it didn't work. Most of them, when brought into a scientific sex education/pregnancy/birthing class will stand up and tell you that that CAN'T be true. (Including a 24 year old in labor still denying that there's any way she can be pregnant)

And 20 years later from my first encounter with this level of ignorance, it is only getting worse. And younger.

[brmdp3123]

20. I think your second point is probably correct

which doesn't speak well for all the Sex Education we've been paying for. I think people knew more when they learned it on the street.

[Maat]

26. I think that you and I are on the same page.

I think back to when I was 21 - very poor, even though I had gotten my self-absorbed parents to contribute a bit to my schooling, and very scared about my future.

I also worked with pregnant-teens/young-adults when I was a worker, and now I work with them as a legal-assistant/law-clerk (both jobs have been in Juvenile Court). So, I relate to what you are saying, China-Cat.

[fleabert]

34. a very close person to me was a college GRADUATE,

and did not know where babies came from. She thought she could get pregnant from heavy petting. I had to sit her down and give her a thorough education that somehow fell thru the cracks during her lower and higher education. she was raised in a very very conservative home.

This woman was a certified TEACHER, and did not know the basics of sex ed, this happened in the mid-nineties. Believe it or not!

[FreedomAngel82]

29. Not everybody can

Not everybody has access to a computer and the school she attended could've blocked certain sites and the local library. I had friends in high school who didn't have internet for a long time.

[acmavm]

8. Thank you for posting this information. People need to know that there

are alternatives to putting a living breathing child out do die next to a trash bin or where ever.

And this girl was a college student. I don't think that it can all be excused because she didn't have access 'information'. She was A COLLEGE STUDENT. She shouldn't have known better? She didn't think that there was some big moral dilemma in leaving a child to die?

Silly me, for some reason I'm bothered. Apparently from the remarks here so far, I shouldn't be. The girl is just another proverbial victim of 'circumstances'.

[Sapphire Blue]

12. I won't condemn or excuse her; I only wish she knew about/used this...

... alternative.

[TahitiNut]

14. There's obviously far more to this than the article reports.

Is it possible she didn't know she was pregnant? Is it possible that the baby was stillborn? I can't even imagine the missing elements of this story. How the hell did she give birth? Under what conditions? Was it a full term birth? Who knew she was pregnant? The bare facts cited in the article make no sense whatsoever.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. To call it a newborn would imply full term, I should think. Odds are

she knew she was preggers. So why the baby got thrown out, I don't know. It's just all so incredibly sad. :cry:

[FreedomAngel82]

30. The only reason I can think of

is she had to hide it from her parents etc. Who knows what her life is like and her parents etc. It is sad.

[brmdp3123]

16. What difference does any of that make?

[TahitiNut]

18. Absolutely none to anybody that rushes to judgment without all the facts.

I'm just too old to do all that jumping to conclusions. It takes me longer to get out of my chair. :shrug:

[brmdp3123]

19. I'm probably older than you are...

but this action was indefensible.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. Some actions are more indefensible than others

If this weren't so, there'd be only one punishment in Penal Codes.

What TahitiNut said is just the obvious: there's not enough facts to make an accurate judgment. What's so outrageous about that?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. And another one:

Who's the father?

[FrankX]

25. Just heard on radio that she was investigated last year for same thing

but no charges were filed against her. Very strange.

[FrankX]

27. Here's link

"The Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources it did not name, reported that Ashcraft went to the Good Samaritan Hospital downtown last year. She was hemorrhaging and doctors determined that she had recently given birth, but she said the baby was stillborn and she had disposed of it.
Police did not extensively search for the body because detectives believed that too much time had passed and it would be impossible to determine whether a crime had occurred, the Times said."
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/5103037/detail.html

[Greyhound]

31. If you know her maybe you can answer my question.

California has a law whereby anybody can leave their newborn at any hospital, firehouse, or police station, no questions asked, doesn't even have to give her name. It is well known and publicized often.
Given this, why would she leave him by the trash?