For centuries women have killed their children. They may once have
done so out of economic necessity for in the days before reliable
contraception became freely available a woman might give birth to
twenty children in as many years. She simply didn't have the money to
feed, house and clothe them and would also run out of energy.
This authors great grandmother had sixteen babies and in later life
wanted nothing more to do with children. But some women went further
than exhausted indifference, quietly suffocating their offspring when
there were no witnesses around.
Nowadays the reason for most infanticides has changed and women tend
to kill their young so that they themselves can enjoy a less
restricted lifestyle without risking possible public disapproval by
giving their children up for adoption. These crimes are often
premeditated and carefully carried out.
 Susan
Smith who murdered her three year old and one year old sons fits into
this category. The Carolina-based mother had separated amicably from
her husband and had found herself a wealthy new boyfriend. But he was
honest enough to admit that he didn't want to raise a family so broke
off their relationship.
A more stable woman would have recovered from this, but Susan Smith
hadn't enjoyed a life of stability. Instead, her father had committed
suicide when she was a child and her mother had remarried. Moreover,
young Susan had been repeatedly sexually abused. She'd taken an
overdose at thirteen and another at eighteen and spent a week after
her  second
suicide attempt in a mental health facility. But a year after her
second overdose she married and by age twenty-two she had two
children, had separated from her husband and was living an
increasingly small life.
Now Susan looked for a way to get her attractive boyfriend back. She
could have given the children to their father who loved them dearly.
But that would have gone against what society expects of women and she
was desperate for societal consent. To the outside world she was a
devoted mother and she wanted to appear like a devoted mother to the
end. So she decided to kill the babies and make up a story which would
win her endless sympathy.
On 25th October 1994 she strapped the babies into her car and drove
the vehicle into a lake. She jumped out at the last minute and went to
the authorities, claiming that a black man had stolen her car and
driven off with the babies in tow. For nine days America hoped that
the children would be returned safely. Susan was a religious women so
she even asked the nation to pray for them. Luckily the authorities
were more realistic and asked her to take a lie detector test which
she failed, showing especial guilt when asked if she knew where the
babies were. Her story didn't add up and eventually she confessed and
the car with its tiny drowned occupants was recovered from the lake.
 Another
young woman who committed a very similar crime was the Oregon-based
Diane Downs who became infatuated with a married man. He too made it
clear that he didn't want children. Diane, who had previously been
regarded as the ideal mother, now saw her three youngsters in a whole
new light. She put them in her car and shot all three with a pistol
then pretended that a man had attacked them. Unfortunately for her,
one of the children survived, albeit with severe long term injuries,
and told the authorities the truth.
Diane Downs then did what many mothers who've killed do - she got
pregnant again for the trial. This often wins these women sympathy as
naive members of the public don't believe that a woman who could kill
children would choose to get pregnant again.
 Diane
Downs and Susan Smith killed all of their children at once - but many
mothers kill one child then give birth to another only to kill it too.
Often these acts are preceded by a period of deep depression or
alcoholism. Sometimes the mother will even admit that she hasn't
bonded with the baby, that she requires help. Unfortunately society's
need to believe in the perfect mother is so strong that friends or
neighbours will tell the woman not to worry, that she's doing just
fine. Even when the woman goes on to sequentially murder her children,
many of her acquaintances will continue to insist that she's simply
had two or three cot deaths in a row, that she's innocent.
Paula Sims of Illinois initially fit into this category. She killed
her first baby in June 1986 then attempted to knock herself out and
said she and the baby had been attacked in their home by a masked
kidnapper. Everyone who knew her was supportive and sympathetic. The
police were more suspicious but couldn't prove maternal or paternal
violence so had to let her and her husband go.
The couple moved states and within three years Paula had given birth
to another daughter who she also murdered, again telling the
authorities that the baby had been kidnapped. In truth, she put the
little corpse in a freezer for several days before dumping it in a
trash can in order to give the impression that the baby was alive for
some time in the kidnapper's care.
Years later, whilst still in jail for the murders, she admitted that
she'd been suffering from depression throughout her months of
motherhood and often took tranquilizers. She said that she also felt
very isolated in her rural home.
Again, more stable women find ways to end their isolation that
doesn't involve killing their young. But these infant killers tend to
fit into the borderline psychological category. They haven't received
enough love during their childhoods and are desperate to latch on to
other people - or create babies - for whom they declare undying love.
Unfortunately their early experiences haven't involved long-term
affection so that love can quickly transmogrify into an equally
intense hate.
Borderline individuals tend to overdramatise situations and act
impulsively. They can superficially look like loving mothers but they
save most of their true feelings for themselves. The mother sees the
child as a commodity, like a doll that she can dress up for society to
admire. But like a doll that is tired of, the baby is ultimately
expendable especially if a new boyfriend, new career or potential new
lifestyle is the reward.
If we are to lessen the infanticide figures, we have to stop
romanticising motherhood and give out the message that having babies
simply isn't right for everyone. And we have to start listening to
women who do give birth and then admit that they cannot cope. We also
have to accept that one child a week dies in Britain at its parents
hands - and that the vast majority of preschool children who are
murdered are killed by their mothers. The hand that rocks the cradle
isn't always fit to rule the world.
 
Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial
Killers by Carol Anne Davis includes one profile of a mother who
killed multiple times. The book is published by Allison & Busby at
£6.99
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