DEAR ABBY: You should have told "All Alone" that there are helpful agencies like Planned Parenthood that provide help for teen-agers without requiring legal consent of an adult. Not only can they provide medical attention to ensure that "All Alone" is safe and can have children in the future, but they provide the emotional support and peer counseling necessary to give her confidence and renewed self-esteem.
In an ideal world, parents would all be approachable and helpful in a crisis. If they were, perhaps there would be no crisis. Since an ideal world doesn't exist, helpful agencies do -- thank God. -- TEEN ADVOCATE IN NAPA, CALIF.
DEAR TEEN ADVOCATE: I'm glad you wrote. I have long been a supporter of Planned Parenthood, which offers a full range of reproductive health services for both men and women, including premarital blood testing, contraceptive services, prenatal care and counseling -- to name only a few.
Tomorrow I'll share more of the letters I have received from young women who identified with "All Alone's" experience.