Editing Infanticide (section)

===North America===

====Inuit====
There is no agreement about the actual estimates of the frequency of newborn female infanticide in the [[Inuit]] population. [[Carmel Schrire]] mentions diverse studies ranging from 15% to 80%.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Schrire| first = Carmel| author-link = Carmel Schrire|author2=William Lee Steiger| title = A matter of life and death: an investigation into the practice of female infanticide in the Arctic| journal = Man| volume = 9| issue = 2| pages = 161–84| year = 1974| doi=10.2307/2800072| jstor = 2800072}}</ref>

Polar Inuit ([[Inughuit]]) killed the child by throwing him or her into the sea.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Fridtjof| first=Nansen| title=Eskimo Life| publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.| year=1894| location=London| page=152}}</ref> There is even a legend in [[Inuit mythology]], "The Unwanted Child", where a mother throws her child into the [[fjord]].

The [[Yukon]] and the Mahlemuit tribes of [[Alaska]] exposed the female newborns by first stuffing their mouths with grass before leaving them to die.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Garber| first = Clark| title =Eskimo Infanticide| journal = [[Scientific Monthly]]| volume = 64| issue = 2| year = 1947| pages = 98–102| pmid = 20285669| bibcode = 1947SciMo..64...98G}}</ref> In [[Arctic]] Canada the Inuit exposed their babies on the ice and left them to die.<ref name="InfHisSu"/>{{rp|354}}

Female Inuit infanticide disappeared in the 1930s and 1940s after contact with the Western cultures from the South.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Balikci| first = Asen| contribution = Netslik| editor-last = Damas| editor-first = David| title = Handbook of North American Indians (Arctic)| page = 427| publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution]]| place = Washington DC| year = 1984| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref>

However, it must be acknowledged these infanticide claims came from non-Inuit observers, whose writings were later used to justify the forced westernization of indigenous peoples. In 2009, Travis Hedwig argued that infanticide runs counter to cultural norms at the time and that researchers were misinterpreting the actions of an unfamiliar culture and people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hedwig |first=Travis |date=2009 |title=The Boundaries of Inclusion for Iñupiat Experiencing Disability in Alaska |url=https://www.alaskaanthropology.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/AJA-v71-optimized.pdf |journal=Alaska Journal of Anthropology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=126–134 |access-date=28 June 2023 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628024441/https://www.alaskaanthropology.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/AJA-v71-optimized.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Canada====
The ''[[Handbook of North American Indians]]'' reports infanticide among the [[Dene]] Natives and those of the [[Mackenzie Mountains]].<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Savishinsky| first1 = Joel |first2=Hiroko Sue |last2=Hara| contribution = Hare| editor-last = Helm| editor-first = June| title = Handbook of North American Indians (Subarctic)| page = 322| publisher = Smithsonian Institution| place = Washington DC| year = 1981| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Gillespie| first = Beryl| contribution = Mountain Indians| editor-last = Helm| editor-first = June| title = Handbook of North American Indians (Subarctic)| page = 331| publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution]]| place = Washington DC| year = 1981| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref>

====Native Americans====
In the Eastern [[Shoshone]] there was a scarcity of Native American women as a result of female infanticide.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Shimkin| first = Demitri B.| contribution = Eastern Shoshone| editor-last = D'Azevedo| editor-first = Warren L.| title = Handbook of North American Indians (Great Basin)| page = 330| publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution]]| place = Washington DC| year = 1986| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref> For the [[Maidu]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] twins were so dangerous that they not only killed them, but the mother as well.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Riddell| first = Francis| contribution = Maidu and Konkow| editor-last = Heizer | editor-first = Robert F.| title = Handbook of North American Indians (California)| page = 381| publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]| place = Washington DC| year = 1978| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref> In the region known today as southern [[Texas]], the Mariame Native Americans practiced infanticide of females on a large scale. Wives had to be obtained from neighboring groups.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Campbell| first = T.N.| contribution = Coahuitlecans and their neighbours| editor-last = Ortiz| editor-first = Alonso| title = Handbook of North American Indians (Southwest)| page = 352| publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution]]| place = Washington DC| year = 1983| title-link = Handbook of North American Indians}}</ref>

====Mexico====
[[Bernal Díaz]] recounted that, after landing on the [[Veracruz]] coast, they came across a temple dedicated to [[Tezcatlipoca]]. "That day they had sacrificed two boys, cutting open their chests and offering their blood and hearts to that accursed idol".<ref>{{Cite book | last = Díaz| first = Bernal| author-link = Bernal Díaz| title = Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (published posthumously in 1632) | publisher = Editorial Porrúa| year=2005|location= Mexico City | page = 25}}</ref> In ''[[The Conquest of New Spain]]'' Díaz describes more child sacrifices in the towns before the Spaniards reached the large [[Aztec]] city [[Tenochtitlan]].