Editing Infanticide (section)

{{Short description|Intentional killing of human offspring}}
{{About|infanticide in humans|infanticide among animals|Infanticide (zoology)|practices of killing newborns within 24 hours of a child's birth|Neonaticide|the killing of older children by a parent|Filicide}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Homicide}}
'''Infanticide''' (or '''infant homicide''') is the intentional killing of [[infant]]s or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout [[human history]] that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children,<ref name="InfAnAn">{{Cite book | last = Williamson| first = Laila| contribution = Infanticide: an anthropological analysis| editor-last = Kohl| editor-first = Marvin| title = Infanticide and the Value of Life| pages = 61–75| publisher = [[Prometheus Books]]| place = New York| year = 1978 | quote="Infanticide has been practiced on every continent and by people on every level of cultural complexity, from hunter gatherers to high civilizations. Rather than being an exception, then, it has been the rule."}}</ref>{{rp|61}} its main purpose being the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure, but in some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide is generally illegal, but in some places the practice is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced.

Most [[Stone Age]] human societies routinely practiced infanticide, and estimates of children killed by infanticide in the [[Mesolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] eras vary from 15 to 50 percent. Infanticide continued to be common in most societies after the historical era began, including [[ancient Greece]], [[Roman Empire|ancient Rome]], the [[Phoenicians]], ancient [[China]], ancient [[Japan]], [[Pre-Islamic Arabia]], [[early modern Europe]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=New book suggests historical infanticide in Europe was likely more widespread than estimated |url=https://phys.org/news/2023-07-historical-infanticide-europe-widespread.amp |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=phys.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal Australia]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], and [[Native Alaskan]]s.

Infanticide became forbidden in the [[Near East]] during the 1st millennium. [[Christianity]] forbade infanticide from its earliest times, which led [[Constantine the Great]] and [[Valentinian I]] to ban infanticide across the Roman Empire in the 4th century.
The practice ceased in [[Arabia]] in the 7th century after the founding of [[Islam]], since the [[Quran]] prohibits infanticide.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah At-Takwir - 8-9 |url=https://quran.com/en/at-takwir/8-9 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah An-Nahl - 58-59 |url=https://quran.com/en/an-nahl/58-59 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surah Al-An'am - 151 |url=https://quran.com/en/al-anam/151 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=iqna.ir |date=8 March 2006 |title=Killing of Baby Girls is Condemned by Holy Quran |url=https://iqna.ir/en/news/1481889/killing-of-baby-girls-is-condemned-by-holy-quran |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=International Quran News Agency |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tasgheer |first1=Aqsa |last2=Ishfaq |first2=Muhammad |date=2021 |title=Female Infanticide in Pre-Islamic Arab Society: A Quranic and Historical Perspective |url=https://journal.al-qawarir.com/index.php/alqawarir/article/view/128 |journal=Al-Qawārīr |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |issn=2709-457X}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lindstedt |first=Ilkka |date=2023-08-01 |title=The Qurʾān and the Putative pre-Islamic Practice of Female Infanticide |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com:443/document/doi/10.1515/jiqsa-2023-0005/html |journal=Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=5–29 |doi=10.1515/jiqsa-2023-0005 |issn=2474-8420|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aksoy |first=Soner |date=2024-08-21 |title=The Impact of Religious Practices on Shaping Cultural Habits: The Case of Child Sacrifice among the Pre-Islāmic Arabs from the Qur'ānic Perspective |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=15 |issue=8 |pages=1019 |doi=10.3390/rel15081019 |doi-access=free |issn=2077-1444}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - Ethics - Abortion: Female infanticide |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> Infanticide of male babies had become uncommon in China by the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), whereas infanticide of female babies became more common during the [[One-Child Policy]] era (1979–2015). During the period of [[Company rule in India]], the [[East India Company]] attempted to eliminate infanticide but were only partially successful, and female infanticide in some parts of India still continues. Infanticide is very rare in industrialised countries but may persist elsewhere.

Parental infanticide researchers have found that mothers are more likely to commit infanticide.<ref>MARLENE L. DALLEY, Ph.D. The Killing of Canadian Children by Parent(s) or Guardian(s): Characteristics and Trends 1990–1993, January 1997 & 2000</ref> In the special case of [[neonaticide]] (murder in the first 24 hours of life), mothers account for almost all the perpetrators. Fatherly cases of neonaticide are so rare that they are individually recorded.<ref>Neil S. Kaye M.D – Families, Murder, and Insanity: A Psychiatric Review of Paternal Neonaticide</ref>

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