Joni doesn't mince words, does she? She had the misfortune to be born into a society where money is the social arbiter, not love...and it's a big financial problem when a baby is born to an unwed mother...specially a very young unwed mother with little or no cash.

This was not the case in Hawaii, for example, before the white explorers arrived and brought "civilization". If a girl got pregnant there, everyone celebrated and they had a big party to greet the new child when it was born. Money didn't even enter the picture. There was no money. And it didn't particularly matter who the father was or whether the girl was married...the baby was welcomed and got full support from all the girl's relatives. No shame! They knew something we don't.