> Many species, including higher mammals, frequently engage in infanticide as part of their quest to perpetuate their genes, so maybe let's all try to do a bit better than the default of the natural world

Infanticide is conducted routinely in human societies in the form of abortion. Even though, abortion IS the right choice.

It is a completely different infanticide, even if you give it this name.

The result is the same.

The result is not the same either. The described infanticide serves a goal of undoing other gene’s reproduction. Abortion is a smarter form of not spending resources on a weak/dead-end offspring (or just throwing it out of nest), if you want these analogies.

Would you condone the post-birth infanticide of a weak/dead-end offspring as a smarter form of not spending resource someone probably does not have ?

I’m not talking morals here and not arguing for or against abortion. Our morals have nothing to do with competition infanticide in mammals vs abortion diff.

Is it wise to stretch other species’ defaults to this issue? It is our behavior that is discussed, not that of some “higher mammals”. If that was natural to us, it would be a known widespread phenomenon in “feral” areas. Nothing adds more tension to the society than depriving most fundamental drives. Thank god these do not include opposing each other by forming large groups or not giving respect or food to someone because they don’t look better than us.