Infanticide and Infant Abandonment: New Directions in US Law and Policy

The essence of the pediatrician’s role includes safeguarding the health and welfare of all newborns. Thus, the pediatric profession is rightly concerned with infanticide, defined as homicide during the first year of life, and with infant abandonment, or unsafe desertion. As such, the pediatric community should be aware of, and invested in, efforts to reduce or eliminate these tragedies. This commentary provides a brief overview of relevant data and preventive measures, including the relatively recent emergence of infant abandonment devices (IADs) and the availability of confidential birth within hospitals. Conditions on the ground, and the legal landscape, are in flux in the United States. We invite pediatricians to participate in shaping the preventive measures being used, and those being discussed in state legislatures.