Should Mothers Kill Their Children?

There are a few reasons some mothers commit the act of maternal filicide. Maternal filicide is the act of  mothers killing their own children. Mothers would normally not kill their children unless they are mentally disturbed. One reason that a mother may kill her child is that she rationalizes and believes that killing her child is in the child's best interest. Maybe if the child has some sort of disability or mental disorder, this could be an option. This is called "altruistic filicide." Another reason a mother would commit maternal filicide is if she is hearing voices or has some other non-understandable reason. This is called "acutely psychotic filicide." This is due to a mental and psychological disorder. Another reason, called "fatal maltreatment filicide," is where a mother kills her child accidentally, but the child is killed due the sum of abuse. "Unwanted child filicide" is when a mother kills her child because the child is a nuisance in the mother's life. Lastly, "spouse revenge filicide" is when a mother kills her child to hurt the father. This is similar to what happens in Medea. She kills her children only to hurt Jason. She learned this from Aegus, who promised a lifetime of protection and safety. Again, these only really occur if the mother is seriously mentally ill. These acts may seem impossible, but they do occur in real life.