In ancient times, exposition was a method of infanticide or child abandonment in which infants were left in a wild place either to die due to hypothermia, hunger, animal attack or to be collected by slavers or by those unable to produce children.

Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure, but in some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide is generally illegal, but in some places the practice is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced.