In this investigation we examine the proposition that infanticide is a terminal abortion procedure, practiced when abortion attempts fail or when the decision to kill an infant is based on characteristics of the baby that can be observed only after birth. Three hypotheses were deivsed to test this assumption: (1) infanticide takes place before the infant's birth ceremony; (2) birth ceremonies are more prevalent in societies practicing infanticide; and (3) the reasons for infanticide and abortion are similar. Hypothesis 2 was rejected because of the presence of birth ceremonies in almost all societies, hypotheses 1 and 3 were confirmed.
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