This happened so often that there was a special crime called "concealment of birth." This only meant that a woman kept her pregnancy a secret and gave birth without telling anyone. Concealment of birth allowed the courts to deal with these women without having to decide if they had killed their babies. Concealment charges could be brought against any woman who gave birth in secret, but it was only used when a baby died. If a woman kept her pregnancy a secret, but the baby did not die, she was not charged with concealment of birth.

The more serious crime was called "infanticide." Women who were charged with this crime were thought to have killed the baby on purpose. Women were only charged with infanticide when there were signs of violence, or if it was possible to prove that the mother intended to harm the baby.

How often did this happen? Between 1885 and 1930, at least 57 women were tried for concealment of birth or infanticide in Newfoundland and Labrador. Some of the court records are missing, so there may be more cases we do not know about. Others may have remained secret and never came before the courts.

Here are some cases taken from court records, old letters and newspaper reports. They help us understand what happened to young women who found themselves pregnant and had nowhere to turn.

Sarah Penny

In the fall of 1905, Sarah Penny gave birth alone on a schooner returning from Labrador. The child died. Sarah was 17 and unmarried. Later, she was charged with concealment of birth in St. John's. Sarah pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months with hard labour in the Penitentiary in St. John's. (Most women who were found guilty of concealment got a sentence of six months to one year.)

Judge Johnson, the judge in this case, wrote to Governor William MacGregor about Sarah. Judge Johnson believed the baby was probably dead when it was born. He wrote that Sarah "may have been prompted by feelings of modesty in the presence of a crew of sailors and fishermen" to hide what happened. But he did not think he could give her less than six months in jail because cases that looked like concealment of birth sometimes really were infanticide.

It sounds as if Judge Johnson felt sorry for Sarah. He wrote, "I did my best to impress on her mind that... she deserved all our pity under the circumstances and that when she had served her sentence...I hoped she could face the world with a feeling that she had atoned for her offence and that... she should forget and amend the past."⁸ (To atone means to make up for. To amend means to fix.)