ADOPTION AT BIRTH - PREVENTION AGAINST ABANDONMENT OR NEONATICIDE

A study was carried out between 1987 and 1989 to try to understand why women choose to give their infants up for adoption at birth and the p sychodynamics of this decision. The interviews of 22 female subjects w ere based on psychoanalytic methodology. They revealed that the motive s behind such a choice arose from a specific set of symptoms: The deni al of pregnancy and fantasies of violence towards the fetus. These sym ptoms were the result of psychological and sexual traumas that the sub jects experienced during their childhood in negligent or incestuous fa milies. Eighteen of the subjects were able to take advantage of the Fr ench law permitting anonymous and cost-free delivery, then the adoptio n of the baby. However, four of the subjects denied their pregnancies so efficiently that childbirth took them by surprise. The sudden disco very of the reality of the newborn led them to neonaticide. This study clarifies the confusion that exists between the abandonment of a chil d in a public place, and the choice of adoption at birth, the aim of w hich is to protect the infant from the risk of violence or future negl ect.