this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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96
Preparatory work to identify remains of 800 infants at Irish mother and baby home begins (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by hypertruck@feddit.org to c/europe@feddit.org
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[–] moodymellodrone@sopuli.xyz 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t know much about mother and baby homes and I didn’t know about this case, so I clicked the article’s link to state apology to learn more. This is so sad.

It estimated 9,000 children, 15% of the total, died – an “appalling” infant mortality rate about double the national average. Neglect, poor food and extreme austerity all played a part. Instead of saving the lives of children legally deemed illegitimate, the homes “significantly reduced their prospects of survival”.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I don't have the emotional bandwidth to read about this atm...

Anything in there about what the motivations were? Greed (pocketing charitable contributions)? Psychopathy? Religion / mental illness (considering the children an "abomination")?

[–] DreamAccountant@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

The motivation wasn't to protect anyone. It was to control the population. Unwed mothers were seen as the lowest class of society, and were thrown out of society. Why? Religion. Religious assholes today still look down on unwed mothers. So they were sent to the edge of town, put on a work farm/factory and hidden from public view.

When it was time to give birth, they didn't use hospitals. They used their fictional god to protect them. Which resulted in the deaths of many of the women and children. Which were then discarded in the garbage. Because their religion regarded them as garbage. Much as they still do today.

Yeah, religion is mental illness. Look at the assholes here defending it. They're fucking bonkers.

[–] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

The motivation was to protect women, who became pregnant outside of marriage, from becoming outcasts, and giving their children a chance of survival.

A woman who became pregnant outside of marriage in these times had three choices:

  • illegal abortion, with a high risk of death, infertility and imprisonment
  • giving birth and face a life as social outcast for herself and her child
  • "repent", go to a nunnery, give birth there, give up the child who would be raised in an orphanage, and return to society. As a bonus they often got some education in these "homes for fallen maidens", at least in my country.

By the way – a 15 % infant mortality rate sounds terrible to us moderners, but according to the article this was only double the normal infant mortality! This is a very good survival rate for new borns and infants who lost their mothers — this was the age before baby formula diet and antibiotics. We should honour these nuns for saving 85 % of the children rather than bashing them for only having the knowledge and tools of their age.

[–] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

We should honour these nuns for saving 85 % of the children rather than bashing them for only having the knowledge and tools of their age.

Should we honor them for tossing the dead babies into the septic tank against the mothers wishes, after letting them die from neglect when promising safety, and then hiding the evidence and trying to stop any investigation until very recently?

This wasn't in the 1800s, it didn't end till 1998.

[–] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

The article said till 1961. Concerning neonatal and infant care, the 1960s was the time when infant mortality started to drop. The article stated that the infant mortality in these homes was double the avarage infant mortality. If you take into account that the babies were separated from their mothers after birth, this is a pretty good result. If the infants had been neglected, you'd exspect a much higher mortality rate.

Regarding disposing of dead babies in septic tanks – that depends. Stillborn babies were not considered human remains until very recently, and disposed of as biological waste all over the world.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

buried there between 1925 and 1961, some in a disused subterranean septic tank

Burying dead babies in a septic tank, even unused, seems callous.

[–] DreamAccountant@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You'd be right, if you didn't so completely understate the judgment. Callous? No. It's not callous.

It's fucking horrible. Despicable. Against every single thing their religion claims on multiple levels. It's a great reason to never, ever, ever let this religion ever practice any religion in their country ever again. That's what it is.

Callous? YOU'RE Callous!

[–] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

You are aware that disposing of stillborn infants as biologic waste has been the standard procedure until at least the 2000s in all hospitals, anc probably still is in the majority of hospitals world wide? This has nothing to do with religion.

[–] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

Standard procedure for stillborn babies all over the world, at least until the 2000s.

[–] DreamAccountant@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Why? Religion. This all happened because of religion. No oversight from the government, so they did whatever they wanted. Which meant throwing away babies.

Always remember, religion lies. They say how wonderful they ware every second of the day. This is the reality of religion. Death, suffering, and gore. Hidden from the public for as long as possible. Even the title of this article doesn't hold the church accountable for their despicable acts. This is what religion IS. This is what they DO. Never believe what they say.

[–] Fusselwurm@feddit.org 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Think bigger.

This is what sometimes happens when you give people power without controlling for outcomes (vulgo: without oversight).

Everything else is circumstantial. It can be a religious context, but it doesnt have to be. Bad things have happened in state-run institutions, in foster homes, in prisons, in families - wherever there is a power imbalance that goes unchecked.

[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 2 points 3 weeks ago

Want to ruin your day? Read about opus dei

[–] NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 14 points 3 weeks ago

Speaking in the Dáil, the Irish parliament, he did not spare his fellow citizens. “No nuns broke into our homes to kidnap our children. We gave them up to what we convinced ourselves was the nuns’ care. We gave them up maybe to spare them the savagery of gossip, the wink and the elbow language of delight in which the holier-than-thous were particularly fluent. We gave them up because of our perverse, in fact, morbid relationship with what is called respectability,” he added.

So, as long as you don't kidnap the child, you are free to do whatever with it I guess.