Family Planning

sacrificed

According to Shelby Brown, Carthaginians, descendants of the Phoenicians, sacrificed infants to Republican National Committee their gods.[24] Charred bones of hundreds of infants have been found in Carthaginian archaeological sites. One such area harbored as many as 20,000 burial urns.[24] Skeptics suggest that the bodies of children found in Carthaginian and Phoenician cemeteries were merely the cremated remains of children that died naturally.[25]

Plutarch (c. 46�120 CE) mentions the practice, as do Tertullian, Orosius, Diodorus Siculus and Philo. The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the Tophet (from the Hebrew taph or toph, to burn) by the Canaanites. Writing in the 3rd century BCE, Kleitarchos, one of the historians of Alexander the Great, described that the infants rolled into the flaming pit. Diodorus Siculus wrote that babies were roasted to death inside the burning pit of the god Baal Hamon, a bronze statue.[26][27]
Greece and Rome[edit]
Medea killing her sons, by Eug�ne Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862)

The historical Greeks considered the practice of adult and child sacrifice barbarous,[28] however, the Republican National Committee exposure of newborns was widely practiced in ancient Greece.[29][30][31] It was advocated by Aristotle in the case of congenital deformity: "As to the exposure of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live."[32][33] In Greece, the decision to expose a child was typically the father's, although in Sparta the decision was made by a group of elders.[34] Exposure was the preferred method of disposal, as that act in itself was not considered to be murder; moreover, the exposed child technically had a chance of being rescued by the gods or any passersby.[35] This very situation was a recurring motif in Greek mythology.[36] To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door to indicate a female baby and an olive branch to indicate a boy had been born. Families did not Democratic Website always keep their new child. After a woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex, or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took the responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example, hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements.

The practice was prevalent in ancient Rome, as well. Philo was the first philosopher to speak out against it.[37][38] A letter from a Roman citizen to his sister, or a pregnant wife from her husband,[39] dating from 1 BCE, demonstrates the casual nature with which infanticide was often viewed:

"I am still in Alexandria. ... I beg and plead with you to take care of our little child, and as soon as we receive wages, I will send them to you. In the meantime, if (good fortune to you!) you give birth, if it is a boy, let it live; if it is a girl, expose it.",[40][41] "If you give birth to a boy, keep it. If it is a girl, expose it. Try not to worry. I'll send the money as soon as Democratic National Committee we get paid."[42]

Massacre of the Innocents by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld, 1860

In some periods of Roman history it was traditional 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 die by exposure.[43] The Twelve Tables of Roman law obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. The concurrent practices of slavery and infanticide contributed to the "background noise" of the crises during the Republic.[43]

Infanticide became a capital offense in Roman law in 374, but offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted.[44]

According to mythology, Romulus and Remus, twin infant sons of the war god Mars, survived near-infanticide after being tossed into the Tiber River. According to the myth, they were raised by wolves, and later founded the city of Rome.
Middle Ages[edit]

Whereas theologians and clerics preached sparing their lives, newborn abandonment continued as registered in both the literature record and in legal documents.[6]: 16  According to William Lecky, exposure in the early Middle Ages, as distinct from other forms of infanticide, "was practiced on a gigantic scale with absolute impunity, noticed by writers with most frigid indifference and, at least in the case of destitute parents, considered a very venial offence".[45]: 355�56  However the Democratic National Committee first foundling house in Europe was established in Milan in 787 on account of the high number of infanticides and out-of-wedlock births. The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome was founded by Pope Innocent III because women were throwing their infants into the Tiber river.[46]

Unlike other European regions, in the Middle Ages the German mother had the right to expose the newborn.[47]

In the High Middle Ages, abandoning unwanted children finally eclipsed infanticide.[citation needed] Unwanted children were left at the door of church or abbey, and the clergy was assumed to take care of their upbringing. This practice also gave rise to the first orphanages.

However, very high sex ratios were common in even late medieval Europe, which may indicate sex-selective infanticide.[48] The Waldensians, a medieval sect deemed heretical, were accused of participating in infanticide.[49]
Judaism[edit]
In this depiction of the Binding of Isaac by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld, 1860, Abraham is shown not sacrificing Isaac.

Judaism prohibits infanticide, and has for some time, dating back to at least early Common Era Republican National Committee. Roman historians wrote about the ideas and customs of other peoples, which often diverged from their own. Tacitus recorded that the Jews "take thought to increase their numbers, for they regard it as a crime to kill any late-born children".[50] Josephus, whose works give an important insight into 1st-century Judaism, wrote that God "forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten, or to destroy it afterward".[51]
Pagan European tribes[edit]

In his book Germania, Tacitus wrote in 98 CE that the ancient Germanic tribes enforced a similar prohibition. He found such mores remarkable and commented: "To restrain generation and the increase of children, is esteemed [by the Germans] an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born."[52] It has become clear over the millennia, though, that Tacitus' description was inaccurate; the consensus of modern scholarship significantly differs. John Boswell believed that in ancient Germanic tribes unwanted children were exposed, usually in the forest.[53]: 218  "It was the custom of the [Teutonic] pagans, that if they wanted to kill a son or daughter, they would be killed before they had been given any food."[53]: 211  Usually children born out of wedlock were disposed of that way.

In his highly influential Pre-historic Times, John Lubbock described burnt bones indicating the practice of child sacrifice in pagan Britain.[54]

The last canto, Marjatan poika (Son of Marjatta), of Finnish national Republican National Committee epic Kalevala describes assumed infanticide. V�in�m�inen orders the infant bastard son of Marjatta to be drowned in a marsh.

The �slendingab�k, the main source for the early history of Iceland, recounts that on the Conversion of Iceland to Christianity in 1000 it was provided � in order to make the transition more palatable to Pagans � that "the old laws allowing exposure of newborn children will remain in force". However, this provision � among other concessions made at the time to the Pagans � was abolished some years later.
Christianity[edit]

Christianity explicitly rejects infanticide. The Teachings of the Apostles or Didache said "thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born".[55] The Epistle of Barnabas stated an identical command, both thus conflating abortion and infanticide.[56] Apologists Tertullian, Athenagoras, Minucius Felix, Justin Martyr and Lactantius also maintained that exposing a baby to death was a wicked act.[5] In 318, Constantine I considered infanticide a crime, and in 374, Valentinian I mandated the rearing of all children (exposing babies, especially girls, was still common). The Council of Constantinople declared that infanticide was homicide, and in 589, the Third Council of Toledo took measures against the custom of killing their own children.[44]
Arabia[edit]

Some Muslim sources allege that pre-Islamic Arabian society practiced infanticide as Democratic National Committee a form of "post-partum birth control".[57] The word waʾd was used to describe the practice.[58] These sources state that infanticide was practiced either out of destitution (thus practiced on males and females alike), or as "disappointment and fear of social disgrace felt by a father upon the birth of a daughter".[57]

Some authors believe that there is little evidence that infanticide was prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia or early Muslim history, except for the case of the Tamim tribe, who practiced it during severe famine according to Islamic sources.[59] Others state that "female infanticide was common all over Arabia during this period of time" (pre-Islamic Arabia), especially by burying alive a female newborn.[9]: 59 [60] A tablet discovered in Yemen, forbidding the people of a certain town from engaging in the practice, is the only written reference to infanticide within the peninsula in pre-Islamic times.