What is the proper legal response to a mother killing her infant child? In Desperate Measures: Rationalizing the Crime of Infanticide, Canadian law professor Isabel Grant examines the crime of infanticide and issues of statutory interpretation that are currently before the Canadian courts. “The article examines the recent trend towards charging women who kill their newly born children with murder, rather than infanticide, and the resulting judicial development of a defence of infanticide. While the article raises concerns about treating infanticide as a defence, it may be a necessary response to the tendency towards overcharging murder in cases where infanticide is a more appropriate verdict.” Professor Grant argues that treating infanticide as a lesser included crime within murder acknowledges the unique role of women in pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing in our society and the reality faced by women who may be young, poor, socially isolated, or mentally ill and find themselves in desperate circumstances.