After the fact, charges are being thrown back and forth about the inability of government agencies to protect children, while the murderers through their legal experts contrive new and innovative mental illness defenses.

Lost in the drama is the fact that in America, parents are murdering their children. This is not a Rowe vs. Wade issue. These are the lives of living, breathing, laughing, and crying human beings that are terminated for any number of reasons by those entrusted with their well being—their parents.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that between 1976 through 2002 61% of all children murdered under the age of 5 were killed by their parents (stepparents are included in the number).

The numbers are nearly equal between fathers and mothers: 31% killed by fathers, and 30% killed by mothers.

The Murdered Children Message Board reports that nearly 37,000 children were murdered between the study years 1976-1994. Of those murdered 68% were less than one year old.

In a society where deaths are reported like Dow Jones Industrial Averages, it is almost incomprehensible to imagine a culture where fathers and mothers are senselessly murdering their children.

The reasons given for the heinous acts include jealousy, discipline, inability to care for, drug and substance abuse, second and third generation of child abuse being handed down, and of course the catch-all phrase “for reasons of mental illness.”

Although there have been numerous landmark cases in recent years, the incidence of parents killing their children is not a new social malady.

Characterized by authors as a “black widow” murderer, Janie Lou Gibbs of Cordele, Georgia was in 1967 found guilty of having murdered her three children, one grandson and her husband.

Described as a fundamentalist Christian, starting in 1965, she used arsenic to poison 13 year old Marvin; Lester Gibbs, 16; and her oldest son Lester and his newborn child in order to get insurance proceeds. In each case, she shared the collected insurance benefits with her church.

Perhaps the most celebrated child murder case in recent years occurred in October 2004. Susan Smith in Union, South Carolina after alleging that a black man had stolen her car and kidnapped her children was convicted of drowning her sons Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, in John D. Long Lake.

Smith is serving a life sentence for the murders and has become a celebrity with a published book to her credit.

A Washington County, Georgia mother drowned her daughter, Whitney Jordan, 4, after reading Susan Smith’s book. Her history of mental illness and the state’s failure to keep her incarcerated prior to the killing were used in her defense at trial.

According to a probe conducted by The Atlanta Journal Constitution,Whitney Jordan was one of 844 Georgia children who died between 1993-1998 after reports of their abuse by their parents had been presented to legal authorities.

A macabre case of murder unfolded in the 2004-2005 case in McKinney, Texas involving Dena Schlosser, 37. In November 2004, she pleaded insanity to the murder of her 10 month-old daughter Margaret.

In February 2005, a court ruled Schlosser was competent to stand trial for the murder of her daughter who was brutally tortured having both her arms cut off.

According to the District Attorney, the case of Terrell Peterson, 5, was “one of the most horrific cases of child abuse ever seen in Fulton County.” The case was used to launch an investigation into the performance record of the Department of Family and Children Services (DFACS).

An Atlanta Journal Constitution probe into the Peterson case in 1997 showed that not only did DFACS drop the ball, the police and attending physicians had all acted negligently in protecting young Terrell who died at Hugh Spaulding Pavilion malnourished with evidence of burn wounds, lacerations, and head trauma.

Born with cocaine in his blood in 1992, after numerous reported incidents of abuse and abandonment, his crack addicted mother arranged for Terrell’s grandmother to provide for care.

The abuse continued over the next four years and eventually resulted in his death. His grandmother, Pharine Peterson, and his aunt Terri Lyn Peterson along with her boyfriend Calvin Pittman were all charged with murder in the death of Terrell Peterson.

In a society that touts human rights and preaches morality and ethics to developing countries around the world, we are past due in addressing the needs of the thousands of abused and tortured children in America who if left un-rescued will die at the hands of their own parents.