Infanticide
Abigail Hayworth, the author of an article titled, "The
Baby We Can't Ignore" in Marie Claire (June 2001:7273) was very upset at the picture to the left. At the
beginning of her article, she states:
"This picture is deeply shocking, but we feel that such
contempt for life must be brought to your attention. A
newborn baby lies dead in the street, discarded like a
piece of trash to the indifference of passersby. She is
just another heartbreaking victim of China's ruthless
one-child policy."
Pro-life advocates would agree with Hayworth, but believe that the abortion of the 19week-old fetus to the right shows just as much "contempt for life" as does infanticide in
China. What anthropological explanation might there be for why the majority of
Americans reject infanticide but accept abortion?
The reasons why women choose to have an abortion in the U.S. are not
that different from the reasons why people practice infanticide in other
societies. They largely involve the practical considerations associated
with the cost of having a child.
Compared to other industrial societies, the U.S. has a very high
pregnancy rate. It also has a very high abortion rate, which
results in a fertility rate about half the pregnancy rate.
The next two slides show that the bulk of abortions in the U.S. are
performed on poor, single, young and disproportionately minority
women, underscoring the economic considerations influencing the
decision to have an abortion.
Neither Pro-choice nor Prolife advocates can claim the
undisputed moral upper
hand. As the table to the right
shows, established religious
denominations can be found
on both sides of the issue. In
fact, the two largest religious
denominations are officially
Pro-life. Abortion is clearly
still a controversial issue in
the U.S.
The following letters to the editor in the Philadelphia Inquirer
(November 21, 1996), written in response to the Grossberg-Peterson
infanticide killings, illustrate the ambiguous line separating abortion
from infanticide.
Late-Term Abortion
Partial-Term Abortion
Australian Aborigines
Australian aboriginal societies removed on
average every child above the desired
number of three per family.
This resulted in an estimated infanticide
rate of between 20 – 40% of live births.
Adult Pre-Contact M/F Sex Ratios were
150/100, based on geneological data.
The Ecology of Kung Birth Spacing
To understand the “cost” of having a baby among the Ju/’hoansi, we
need to know how much a child weighs at different ages. This is the cost
that the woman must bear if she has to carry her children while foraging
for food.
If you multiply the weight of the child by the distance that a woman travels,
you can establish an operational definition of the cost that a woman must
pay for having one or more children.
This table shows how much weight in the form of a child that a woman
must carry if she gives birth to a child every four years.
This table
shows how
much
weight in
the form of
children a
woman
must carry,
depending
on how
frequently
she has
children.
Using the information on the previous tables, one can see how
much the cost of having a child increases as the frequency of
having children increases.
The cost of having children decreases substantially among those Ju/’hoansi
who have settled down to farming compared to those who are nomadic.
At the same time, the benefits of having children increases. Thus, we see
a decrease in the birth interval among settled Ju/’hoansi and an increase
in the total number of children a settled Ju/’hoansi woman has.
Inuit Infanticide
Franz Boas: Netsilik Sex Ratio (1902)
138 boys and 66 girls = 209 males / 100 females
_____________________________________________
Rasmussen: Netsilik (1923)
--96 births in 18 marriages / 38 girls killed
--Adult Population: 150 males / 109 females
_____________________________________________
Yanomamo Sex Ratio Data
(Male/Female)
Age Group
Central Villages
0 – 14
157 / 100
Peripheral Villages
126 / 100
all ages
130 / 100
115 / 100
_____________________________________________
Explanation: preferential female infanticide, followed by
differential male mortality in warfare
Study of 160 Chinese Women over 50
Total Fertility = 631 sons / 538 daughters
M / F = 117 / 100
158 females had been killed / 0 males
Subsequent Sex Ratio
M / F = 166 / 100
__________________________________________
Japan
Birth control techniques used:
1. Abortion (chemical and mechanical)
2. Infanticide --preferred by rural peasants
a. 10 – 25% of live births
b. less risky
c. allowed removal of defectives
d. facilitated manipulation of sex ratio
Japanese Sex Ratios
1750: 1000 males / 876 females
M/F ratio = 114/100
______________________________________
Japanese sex ratios declined steadily,
but did not achieve parity until 1950.
_______________________________________
In 1750, Japan was an agricultural society.
* * * * *
By 1950, Japan was a major industrial power.
Infanticide Must be Understood as Part of a
Family’s Overall Family Planning Behavior.
1. The decision regarding how many children a couple
will have is determined by a variety of considerations.
2. Understanding the Cost/Benefit considerations that a
couple faces is a powerful predictor of fertility
behavior.
3. This includes not only the number of children a family
will produce, but also the sex of those children.
Many social scientists view child neglect and child abuse as a form of delayed
infanticide and claim that it occurs not only in rural pre-industrial societies, but
within technologically advanced industrial societies as well. Some have even
begun to question how many SIDS deaths may actually be cases of infanticide.
Infant
mortality
rates are
very high in
many
underdeveloped
countries,
making it
difficult to
be assured
of having
many
children
survive to
adulthood.
Even the worst cities for infant mortality in the U.S. have only a
fraction of the infant mortality rates that are common throughout
much of the Third World.
Children are an important productive resource in
pre-industrial farming communities.
Parents throughout the world, most notably rural farmers and
the urban poor in developing countries, depend heavily on
their children when they get old.
Cost of Children in U.S.
(Price Waterhouose for New York Times)
New York City: married professional couple with one child under age 4.
One Paycheck
Two Paychecks
Income:
Husband:
$70,000
Total Income:
$70,000
Husband:
Wife:
$70,000
50,000
$120,000
Taxes: Federal, State, Local, Soc. Sec.
Total Taxes:
$21,848
$44,534
Additional Expenses: Child Care, Work Clothing,
Commuting, Lunches/coffee
$21,385
Total Expenses:
$21,848
$65,919
Net Income
$48,152
$54,061
Children and Earning Power
Chinatown
Washington Heights
Morningside Heights
East Harlem
Central Harlem
Chelsea
Greenwich Village
Upper West Side
Upper East Side
One
Child
Two
Children
Three or More
Children
$36,520
37,000
19,924
48,000
52,000
48,750
60,300
98,650
120,000
$19,357
28,085
30,240
27,500
42,148
24,200
44,500
122,000
142,000
$19,000
35,800
39,372
22,488
43,732
14,000
80,150
100,400
302,975
___________________________________________
Having more children tends to reduce a family’s earning power in
the U.S., except among the wealthiest portion of American society.