“They Told Me That If I Abort, They'Ll Report Me”. Understanding How Reproductive Injustice Can Lead to Infanticide

Ramatou Ouedraogo, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Heidi Moseson, Ibis Reproductive Health
Cilor Ndong, UCAD Universite Cheikh Anta Diop/ APHRC ( African Population and Health Research Center)

Infanticide - the intentional killing or fatal dumping of a child under the age of one year - is a tragic and complex reality in countries such as Senegal. Infanticide is one of the top five reasons why women are detained in prisons in Senegal. Using an ethnographic approach, including participant observation and in-depth interviews with women and girls prosecuted for infanticide, this paper highlights the complex web of factors leading to infanticide in Senegal and its impact. Our findings show that patriarchal norms and the stigmatization of pre/extramarital pregnancies force girls and women with unintended pregnancies into social and economic isolation. While they did not want to keep their pregnancy, the restriction and stigmatization of abortion make infanticide the only option for those women to avoid “social disqualification". Yet, infanticide exacerbates this disqualification, turning them from "deviant” to "criminal", with the legal and social sanctions that this entails.