Infanticide

Infanticide is the crime (or historical practice) of intentionally causing the death of an infant.

In many ancient cultures, including those of ancient Greece, Rome, India, China, and Japan, harsh conditions or cultural mores occasionally resulted in the harsh choice to end the lives of newly-born infants. The most usual method of achieving this was simply to abandon the infant, leaving it to death by exposure.

This is reported to be occurring again in modern China. Because of China's "one-child policy", combined with the parents' desire to have a son, infant daughters are often being abandoned and left to die so the parents will have a chance to have a son.