Eskimo Infanticides

How harsh living conditions force these mothers to kill their newly borns

Day 176 / 365

One of the big debates between the Republicans and the Democrats in America is whether abortion should be legal or not. Republicans who are against say that abortion is the same as child murder. Democrats, on the other hand, say that before the pregnancy has reached a certain stage, the fetus hasn’t developed enough so abortion shouldn’t be seen as killing a human being.

If you think about it, both sides agree that child murder is wrong, the debate is just about when does human life start? does it start at birth, or would you consider a 1-month-old fetus a child as well?

Well, this blog is not about that debate, but it’s about something along the same lines. Just like Democrats and Republicans have different views about when a child’s life starts, Eskimos have quite a different view on this, and the reason behind it is pretty tragic.

Eskimos are a tribe that lives near the north polar regions. In their culture, it is believed that the life of a child doesn’t begin at birth, it begins when the child is given a name. Eskimos live in really harsh living conditions, an raising a child is tough. And it goes without saying, raising multiple children is next to impossible. This is the reason why infanticide used to be a common practice amongst these people. According to Wikipedia, a common way was to stuff the baby’s mouth with grass and leave them in the snow to die. What might seem brutal and barbaric to us, was just a harsh reality for these people.

I came across this in the book “Homo Dues”, which claimed that this practice is still going on. However, I was not able to find any source that could verify this and all accounts of this practice that I found date back to the 1930s and 40s.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Ultimate Game