Infanticide in SF
The murder of children, particularly newborn infants. Has been a social practice or custom in a number of societies, for instance, to deal with disabled children, twins, children of unwanted sex, overpopulation, etc. Periodically practiced to kill particular infants, e.g., potential rivals to a throne or infants prophesied to have some special destiny.
List of works featuring systematic infanticide
These works feature infanticide as a systematic social practice or custom.
- Lois McMaster Bujold. Barrayar and "The Mountains of Mourning". Elimination of disabled / "inferior" children.
- E. M. Forster. "The Machine Stops"
- Esther Friesner, The Psalms of Herod. (Sequel The Sword of Mary didn't deal so closely with that issue.) Elimination to deal with overpopulation.
- Lee Killough, A Voice Out of Ramah (1979)
- Doris Lessing, The Cleft. Allegorical female prehumans expose boy babies as deformities.
- Lois Lowry, The Giver (1993). Elimination of "inferior" children.
- Raccoona Sheldon, "Morality Meat" (in Jen Green & Sarah Lefanu, editors, Despatches from the Frontiers of the Female Mind, The Women's Press: 1985)
Background infanticide
These works include a culture that uses infanticide as a systematic social practice or custom, but the infanticide is not a significant element of the work; background or casually mentioned.
- Sylvia Kelso, Amberlight (e.g., "Why can't the Quarter expose boy-babies like the Houses do? They know too many men make trouble. Why can't they ever learn?" p.82)