'It felt as if someone else was acting on my behalf.’ Voices of Women Sentenced for Infanticide in Sweden 2000-2025

In earlier studies of infanticide in Sweden, I used the verdicts in seven cases of attempted and completed infanticide between 2000-2024 to discuss legal aspects of the Swedish infanticide section. The material can also shed light on the more personal aspects, which is explored here, as the verdicts contain, among other things, a retelling of what the women themselves said during the trial and in police interviewing and even if written in third person, they still provide an insight into what the women themselves experienced, felt and how they tried to make sense of their actions. A lot of research on infanticide look at background factors and it is less common that the women themselves are actually heard. I therefore analyse the women’s stories as they appear in the verdicts and utilise a thematic approach to identify issues the women brought forward, whether these were accepted by the court or not. Identified themes regard the awareness, denial and concealment of pregnancy, another theme regards the inability to speak – either about the pregnancy or about their mental health after birth – and a third theme regards post-natal mental health such as depression, suicidal thoughts and the development of psychosis. These insights challenge the common description of infanticide committed by rational women who consciously chose to kill.