slowmutant wrote:
What does feminism have to say about this? Is this the female privilege we hear so little about?
Rationalizing infanticide with post-partum depression ...
Yes, medical reality does rationalize some cases of infanticide. This is not to say that it is approved or encouraged.
We know that some women will have their hormones and neurotransmitters scrambled after they give birth, and that this increases the risk that some of them will abuse or kill their children. When such physical disruption triggers depression or schizophrenia, neglect and abuse of the child are innevitable. The rational response is to develop treatment and surveillance programs, which will save the lives of infants.
From an individual moral standpoint, a court must ask if a person knew what they were doing and was able to make a decision. If someone was slipped a dose of LSD without their knowledge and consent, and that victim then got paranoid and crazy and did something bad, one must ask if that person is responsible for what they did, or if they were temporarily incapacitated. The same questions can and should be raised in some cases of post-partum depression. These issues are frequently raised when a profoundly ret*d person breaks the law. What is not at issue is whether they did it or not - we assume that they were caught red handed. What is at stake is whether they understood a situation and had the ability to react in a appropriate moral and legal way.
So I don't see it as a 'feminist' or anti-feminist issue, as you have cast it. Your example does involve women, but other cases that involve mental and moral competency involve both genders. It is these larger issues of competency that are the real issue here - not whether one likes feminism or not.