The Demon Midwives
After the bombing in Japan, which forcefully ended the war for them, economically, the situation was crucial. Japan had little to no money, and it led to people starving, but once the war was over the baby boom hit hard. A baby boom is after a war and when the rates for having children increase. The numbers in Japan were insane, between 1947–1949 about 2.6 million babies were born. Many couldn’t afford to have children now, and abortion was still illegal, so some women who were pregnant were desperate for help.
Miyuki Ishikawa was a midwife in Japan in the 1940s; after WWII, the economic situation in Japan was horrible. She realized that the birth rate was increasing and how worried couples were. So, the best way to solve this problem was to leave newborn babies to die. She would decide this for the mothers but sometimes the mothers would ask her to kill their child, so they wouldn’t have to. Anything to prevent pregnancy was not allowed and they would be severely punished if they even tried. Miyuki Ishikawa’s, practices weren’t all that secret. Midwives condemned what she was doing and resigned from the hospital. No one stopped what she was doing, but to get away with what she was doing she needed help, and she got it from her husband and a doctor. She was in charge of the killings, her husband collected the money, and Dr. Nakayama made the fake death certificates. After a while, the conspirators got caught by the police, when they found the remains of five infants. Autopsy’s showed they did not die naturally. This led to an investigation and the arrest of Miyuki and her partners.
During the investigation, the police found around thirty bodies in a temple and forty in a mortician’s house. All die the same way the first five did. She, of course, said she had nothing to do with this and it was the parents who had deserted their children, because of the economic situation. Says this ended up working, due to a law in which gave infants in Japan no rights. Miyuki was sentenced to eight years in prison, and her husband and the doctor only were sentenced to four years. They ended up only having to serve half their sentences. To this day no one knows the number of infants she targeted, an estimate is between 85 and 169. In total, she was tried for 103 newborn deaths.
Prior to this incident, something similar happened, in 1930 41 foster kids were murdered in Itabashi. Hatsutarō Kawamata was arrested for murdering at least 25 children. Japan knew of the crimes but turned a blind eye to it. The incident with Miyuki caused Japan to consider legalizing abortion, in this time the Eugenic Protection Law was launched and abortion for economic reasons was legalized. This law was passed so men could be sterilized in hopes they wouldn’t pass down any mental illness. 454 people were sterilized in Japan under the law.
This wasn’t the first time this has happened though, in the 1800s there were baby farms. Unwed mothers could pay midwives and people who were well off to take care of their children for money. In most cases, the children would find a loving home or go back to their mothers but there was one midwife who kept them for herself. Her name was Amelia Dyer, she would brutally murder the children and use their deaths as financial gain. She wasn’t always such a terrible person, as a child, her mother developed typhus and became mentally unstable, so it was up to Amelia to look after her. After her mother’s death, she lost contact with most of her family and married a man 35 years older than her name George Thomas. Together they had a son and George died shortly after. Desperate for income she took up nursing with a midwife who taught her about baby farming. This sparked an idea in her head, she began placing ads in local papers, she claimed to be a married respectable woman who would take care of the children. Then she would demand one-time payment in exchange for the care she would provide.
On the contrary, she pocketed the money and got rid of the innocent children. In the beginning, she overdosed the babies with an opioid solution that was meant to soothe infants while crying. After murdering the child she would call a coroner to confirm the child’s passing. She acted as though it was an accident and would “grieve” over them.
In 1879 a doctor became suspicious about how many of the babies had passed, he ended up reporting her to authorities but instead of serving time for murder or manslaughter she was only sentenced to 6 months in a labor camp. That didn’t stop her, she continued to place ads and earn payment for watching the infants. If a parent wanted their child back she simply gave them a different child. Realizing that she made a mistake with the coroner she would dispose of the bodies herself. After fighting off authorities, faking mental breakdowns, moving to new towns, adopting new identities, 30 years had passed and over 400 innocent children had been killed.
She would have gotten away with everything if it weren’t for one careless mistake. A carpetbag was floating down the river and there was a faded name written on it along with an address. The police were unable to track her so they needed a trap, they used a decoy woman, and she placed an ad for a baby, in which Amelia responded. She met up with the woman and walked into an ambush. The police searched her home and found six bodies, during her trial, she pleaded guilty to one murder and claimed insanity as a defense. They saw right through her and four and a half minutes later she was convicted. Amelia Dyer was executed on June 10, 1896.
What causes a woman to kill children? In most cases, it’s because of Postpartum psychosis, which is a rare illness some women may experience after they give birth. There is a 4% infanticide rate, this is because they experience a break from their lives. Some symptoms are delusions, feeling irritated, hyperactivity, decreased the need for or inability to sleep, paranoia, rapid mood swings, difficulty communicating, and hallucinations. It’s a form of bipolar disorder after delivery, among people develop this after childbirth 72%-88% have bipolar illness or a schizoaffective disorder, only 12% have schizophrenia. If you have had this disease, there is a 30% chance you can develop it again. Infanticide is intentionally killing infants, it used to be accepted in some countries and cultures but now it is considered an unethical crime. It is still performed through in some cultures. There are some cases when it is a control of the population, like in Miyuki Ishikawa’s case. Either way, nothing excuses the disgusting act.
Work Cited
Gunderman, Dan. “Thirteen of History’s Most Brutal, Unforgiving Female Serial Killers.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, 3 Dec. 2016, www.nydailynews.com/news/thirteen-history-brutal-unforgiving-female-serial-killers-gallery-1.2894905?pmSlide=1.2894903.
“One Potential Cause of Postpartum Psychosis.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/demystifying-psychiatry/201510/one-potential-cause-postpartum-psychosis.
Serena, Katie. “How Amelia Dyer Killed Hundreds Of Babies And Became One Of History’s Worst Serial Killers.” All That’s Interesting, All That’s Interesting, 11 Oct. 2018, allthatsinteresting.com/amelia-dyer.
Sit, Dorothy. A Review of Postpartum Psychosis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3109493/. May 15, 2006
Vann, Madeline R. “What Is Postpartum Psychosis?” Stroke Center — EverydayHealth.com, Ziff Davis, LLC, 27 Apr. 2016, www.everydayhealth.com/postpartum-psychosis/guide/.
