Infanticide: Overview and Analysis

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the social consequences that will result in traditional third world countries from gender imbalance due to a bias in male children, sex-selective abortion and female infanticide. Furthermore, the paper discusses the modern Western issue of the killing of infants who suffer from incurable illnesses. Specifically, the paper assesses the social acceptability of some nations in Western Europe that have in recent years attempted to enact legal protocols for neonatal euthanasia, by which the most severely ill infants may legally be killed following consultation between physicians, parents, and authorities.

From the Paper:

"In contrast to the problem of mass, sex-selective infanticide in traditional cultures, in the West the issue of the killing of infants who suffer from incurable illnesses has recently arisen. It is important to clearly distinguish such euthanasia from infanticide proper, although opponents of such euthanasia are likely to argue that the distinction is not valid ("Outrage," 2004). In fact, euthanasia of both the elderly, the incurably ill, and infants (especially newborns) with incurable illnesses has taken place as long in Western nations as it has in other cultures, but only in recent years has it become a matter of controversy. One example of the controversy coming into a public debate is in the Netherlands, where in 2002, medical doctors from the University of Groningen working in cooperation with state prosecutors worked out what has come to be known as the Groningen Protocol, a set of guidelines for physicians treating severely ill infants who may not be capable of survival. According to these laws, physicians, in consultation with the infant's parents, social workers, and prosecutors, have the prerogative of making a decision concerning euthanasia in select and clearly limited situations. Of approximately 200,000 children born in the Netherlands annual, it is estimated that 600 of the most severely ill may be subject to physician-assisted euthanasia (Verhagen & Sauer, 2005). Whether this new attitude toward neonatal euthanasia will prevail and become more widely accepted remains to be seen."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alcock, J. (1998). Animal behavior: An evolutionary approach (6th ed). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.
• Day, J. (1989). Molech: A god of human sacrifice in the Old Testament. NY: Cambridge University Press.
• Infant-killing and the Victorian mother. (2003, June 15). BBC News Online. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2985632.stm
• Jones, A. (2000). Case study: Female infanticide. Gendercide Watch. Retrieved July 25, 2007, from http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html
• Outrage from churches over euthanasia on newborns. (2004, December 1). Ekklesia (UK). Retrieved July 25, 2007, from http://tinyurl.com/yo5vr2

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