INFANTICIDE

In sociology and biology, infanticide is the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant of a given species, by members of the same species - often by the mother. More recently in criminology, it includes various forms of non-maternal child murder. In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible, whereas in most modern societies the practice is considered immoral and criminal. Nonetheless, it still takes place — in the Western world usually because of the parent's mental illness or violent behavior, and in some poor countries as a form of population control, sometimes with tacit societal acceptance. Female infanticide is more common than the killing of male babies.

In the UK, the Infanticide Act defines infanticide as a specific crime that can only be committed by the mother during the first twelve months of her baby's life. This article deals with the broader notion of infanticide explained above.

Infanticide throughout history

The practice of infanticide has taken many forms. Child sacrifice to supernatural figures or forces, such as that allegedly practiced in ancient Carthage, is one form; however, many societies only practiced simple infanticide and regarded child sacrifice as morally repugnant. Critics have argued that child sacrifice was simply infanticide disguised and both driven by the same socio-economic considerations. Abortion has a similar history.

In Classical times

Judaism prohibits infanticide; Josephus wrote, "The Law orders all the offspring to be brought up, and forbids women either to cause abortion or to make away with the fetus." The ancient Germanic tribes enforced a similar prohibition. Roman historian Tacitus found such mores remarkable and commented on both in nearly identical language: .. .quemquam ex agnatis necare flagitium habetur.. ., "[The Germani] hold it shameful to kill any unwanted child" (Germania), and ...nam et necare quemquam ex agnatis nefas... putant, "[The Jews] think it criminal to kill any unwanted child" (Histories).

A letter from a Roman citizen to his wife, dating from 1 BC, describes the casual nature with which infanticide was often viewed:

"Know that I am still in Alexandria. [...] I ask and beg you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I received payment I shall send it up to you. If you are delivered [before I come home], if it is a boy, keep it, if a girl, discard it." – Naphtali Lewis, Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule.

In some periods of Roman history it was traditional practice for a newborn to be brought to the pater familias, the family patriarch, who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to death by exposure. The Twelve Tables of Roman law obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. Although infanticide became a capital offense in Roman law in AD 374, offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted. A practice described in Roman texts was to smear the breast with opium residue so that a nursing baby would die with no outward cause.

Christianity

From its earliest days, Christianity rejected the notion of infanticide. The Didache prescribed "You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born." So widely accepted was this teaching that Justin Martyr, in his Apology, defended the practice of not exposing children, and observes that they fear to commit this act of abandonment "lest some of them be not picked up, but die, and we become murderers" which reflects on the difficulty of determining how many exposed children actually died.

The rejection of infanticide spread with Christianity; in Njal's Saga, the account of how Christianity came to Iceland concludes with the simultaneous proscription of cultural significant traditions such as pagan worship, the exposure of infants, and the eating of horsemeat.

Arabia and Islam

Contray to popular opinion there is little evidence that infanticide was prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia expect for the case of the Tamim tribe who practiced it during severe famine It was explicitly prohibited by the Qur'an. Islamic law forbids killing an unborn baby after receiving its soul (traditionally considered to be at the end of fourth month of pregnancy, also known as "quickening").

Methods

One frequent method of infanticide in antiquity was simply to abandon the infant, leaving it to death by exposure. In practice and in legend, often Fate intervened, and someone found the child and raised it for their own purposes, either benignly, as with Romulus and Remus, or more commonly for slavery and prostitution. Another method commonly used with female children was to severely malnourish them, resulting in a vastly increased risk of death by accident or disease. In some cultures, this is thought to have been an open and accepted practice, while in others it may have been practiced privately, with the passive acceptance of society.

Present day

The practice has become less common in the Western world, but continues today in areas of extremely high poverty and overpopulation, such as parts of China and India.[10]. Female infants, then and even now, are particularly vulnerable, a factor in gendercide.

Economic

Many historians believe the reason to be primarily economic, with more children born into families than the family is prepared to support. However, this does not explain why infanticide would occur equally among rich and poor, nor why it would be as frequent during decadent periods of the Roman Empire as during earlier, more affluent, periods. In times of famine or cases of extreme poverty, parents may have to choose which of their children will live and which will starve.

Population control

Some anthropologists have suggested other causes for infanticide in non-state and non-industrialized societies. Janet Siskind has argued that female infanticide may be a form of population control in Amazonian societies. Population control is achieved not only by limiting the number of potential mothers; increased fighting among men for access to relatively scarce wives would also lead to a decline in population. Although additional research by Marvin Harris and William Divale supports this argument, it has been criticized as an example of environmental determinism. Tikopia, an isolated South Pacific island, used to practice infanticide to keep a stable population in line with its resource base.

Anthropological

In the Solomon Islands, some people reportedly kill their first-born child as a matter of custom -- and then adopt a child from another island, a practice that suggests that the causes of infanticide are more complex. Other anthropologists have suggested a variety of largely culture-specific reasons for infanticide. In cultures where different value is placed on male and female children, sex-selective infanticide may be practiced simply to increase the proportion of children of the preferred sex, usually male. In cultures where childbearing is strongly tied to social structures, infants born outside of those structures (illegitimate children, children of incest, children of cross-caste relationships, and so forth) may be killed by family members to conceal or atone for the violation of taboo.

Psychological

A minority of academics subscribe to an alternate school of thought reconsidering the practice as early infanticidal childrearing. They attribute it, both modern and historical, on psychological inability to raise children.

Contemporary data suggests that modern infanticide is usually brought about by a combination of postpartum depression and a psychological unreadiness to raise children. It could also be exacerbated by schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It is also attributed, in some cases, to the desire of unwed, underage parents to conceal their sexual relations and/or avoid the responsibility of childrearing.

Sex selection

In the absence of sex-selective abortion, sex-selective infanticide can be deduced from very skewed birth statistics. The biologically normal birth ratio for homo sapiens is approximately 105 males per 100 females, and the life expectancy of females is slightly greater than males on average. When a society has an infant male to female ratio which is significantly higher than the biological norm, sex selection can usually be inferred. (However, new research has led to alternate explanations to this theory.)

100 million missing women

There are 100 million missing women in the world partly due to infanticide. China and India have the highest rates of missing women because of this, although sex-selective abortions are also to blame. However, recent statistical evidence suggests that outbreaks of hepatitis B, which causes female fetuses to miscarry at a higher rate than male fetuses, may account for a large proportion of the "missing" women. Girls are killed because of the low rewards of bringing them up. For example, the dowry price, which can be up to 10 times what an average family in India makes a year, can leave a family in debt. Also, in patrilineal and patrilocal societies, when women or girls marry they no longer support their birth family; they leave economically and geographically to join their husband's family. However, a boy will support his family until they die, making bringing up a boy much more financially rewarding to the parents.

Infant euthanasia in the Netherlands

Joseph Fletcher, founder of situational ethics and a euthanasia proponent, proposed that infanticide be permitted in cases of severe birth defects. He and philosopher Peter Singer have suggested that it is a logical and acceptable extension of abortion.

In the Netherlands, euthanasia remains technically illegal for patients under the age of 12. However, Dr. Eduard Verhagen has documented several cases of infant euthanasia. Together with colleagues and prosecutors, he has developed a protocol to be followed in those cases. Prosecutors will refrain from pressing charges if this Groningen protocol is followed.

Infant euthanasia in the UK

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology (RCOG) has recently recommeded to "Allow Active Euthanasia for Disabled Babies, Doctors Urge" that physicians should be allowed to make “deliberate interventions to kill infants” who are disabled. It has been argued that killing disabled babies will save millions of pounds that otherwise would be required to care for them.

The situation in China

There have been some accusations that infanticide occurs in the People's Republic of China due to the one-child policy although most demographers do not believe that the practice is widespread. In the 1990s, a certain stretch of the Yangtze River was known to be a common site of infanticide by drowning, until government projects made access to it more difficult. Others assert that China has twenty-five million fewer girl children than expected, but sex selective abortion can partially be to blame. The illegal use of ultrasound is widespread in China, and itinerant sonographers with plain vans in parking lots offer inexpensive sonographs to determine the sex of a fetus.