Do not kill your born children out of fear of poverty; We shall provide for you and them. The killing of them was a big mistake.
Translation endnotes
[17:31] The Arabic word we translated as "children" is aWLaD (plural of WaLaD) and it literally means "those who are born." The story of pagans killing their daughters by burying them alive years after they were born is a mythology. They were simply practicing infanticide, that is, they would murder their daughters as soon as they learned their sexes. For abortion, see 46:15.