On the other hand, there is little distress more pathetic than that of an isolated and penniless girl who sees herself ensnared in a 'crime' to erase a 'fault' that people around her consider unpardonable: in France this is the case of approximately women employees, secretaries, students, workers, and peasants; illegitimate motherhood is still so terrible a stain that many prefer suicide or infanticide to being an unmarried mother: proof that no punishment will ever stop them from 'getting rid of the infant.'