These past few weeks, the internet has become obsessed with the case of Lindsay Clancy, largely in part because it is being live-streamed. Clancy is a Massachusetts mother on trial for murdering her three young children. Her defense team is not arguing that she didn’t commit the crime, but rather that she is not guilty by reason of insanity caused by postpartum psychosis.
On Aug. 20, the internet erupted in outrage after 300 supporters, mostly women, showed up outside the courthouse wearing pink. While there were likely some women there to excuse her actions, most were there to bring awareness to women’s mental health, especially the mental health impacts of postpartum. One rally member, a 52-year-old paralegal named April Vincent, stated, “Women are being dismissed, neglected and ignored when we speak up. We’re scared because nobody takes us seriously.”
Advocating for mental health awareness and demanding change should be entirely uncontroversial. However, the response to these women’s cause has been alarming and riddled with misogyny. For lack of better words, internet discourse has turned into a full-blown gender war.
After seeing these women outside the courthouse, I noticed an alarming statement trending on X: “repeal the 19th amendment.”
Inflammatory phrases like this, calling to revoke a woman’s right to vote, do not result in any sort of productive discourse, nor do they result in real change such as more research into the issue. All they do is create more stigma around mental health issues that will inevitably lead to more cases like this. If these keyboard warriors truly cared about the children who died in this case, they wouldn’t be shaming the people actually trying to make a change.
Postpartum psychosis is not an excuse for murder. But it is an explanation for murder, and things that can be explained have solutions. I have no interest in debating whether Clancy should be incarcerated or institutionalized. My interest lies in using this case to enact systemic change.
It is important to note that postpartum psychosis is not the same as postpartum depression. In fact, it is actually more similar to something like paranoid schizophrenia.
Postpartum depression is an extremely common issue, affecting up to one out of seven women who have given birth, causing intense feelings of depression and anxiety that alter daily life. Postpartum psychosis, on the other hand, is extremely rare, affecting between 0.089 and 2.6 per 1,000 women who have given birth, and causing severe symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, depersonalization and feelings of harming oneself or others. Those with postpartum psychosis, unlike those with postpartum depression, will often not even realize they are ill because they have completely disconnected from reality.
But if men are going to call for the repeal of the 19th Amendment — regardless of whether they are being serious or if it’s just ragebait — I have one question: what should we do about the fact that 91 percent of family annihilators — people who murder their children — are men?
We’re not hearing about Clancy because she is the rule. We are hearing about her because she is the exception to the rule. By saying this, it is not my intent to blame all men for violence, but rather to highlight the cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy surrounding this particular issue.
We need to be placing our energy into systemic reform instead.
Lindsay Clancy sought out help before she committed the murders, but instead of receiving a diagnosis, she was bounced from provider to provider, which only exacerbated her instability.
Clancy called a suicide hotline for help but was turned away because she didn’t actually have a “plan” to kill herself. She was checked into a psychiatric hospital just weeks before the murder but was allowed to leave so she could be present to celebrate her daughter’s birthday.
In the months before the killing, she was prescribed an alarming 13 different medications. This raises serious questions about whether patients in crisis are receiving adequate monitoring, coordinated care and appropriate treatment. The use of complex “drug cocktails” also leads to concerns about how multiple medications are prescribed and managed simultaneously, particularly when their combined effects may be difficult to predict.
These fatal mistakes may never have been made if women’s healthcare had been taken seriously from the start. What we need is not more fighting among ourselves, but more advocacy, funding and research.
Psychosis is a temporary state, which means people can be brought out of it. But postpartum psychosis can only be treated if doctors know how to diagnose it. Getting a diagnosis is difficult because postpartum psychosis isn’t listed as a distinct diagnosis in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” that mental health providers use. Doctors are also often not trained to recognize its symptoms.
Now, in the wake of the Lindsay Clancy case, patients experiencing similar thoughts may be even more reluctant to seek treatment or speak honestly with mental health professionals because of the stigma surrounding postpartum psychosis — and the outrageous calls online to repeal the 19th Amendment.
This is a treatable condition, but it can only be treated if we give women the space, support and safety to speak up.
If you actually want to prevent more cases like this from happening, the answer does not lie in shaming women into silence.
Jordan Ori, a 4+1 MA student majoring in English, is Pipe Dream’s opinions editor.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, the Binghamton University Counseling Center’s urgent service line can be reached at (607) 777-2772, extension two. The Consultation, Advocacy, Referral and Education Team can be reached at (607) 777-2804. The “988” suicide and crisis lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in distress. Support Empathy Empowerment Kindness, a student-run helpline, can be reached at (607) 777-4357 and is open from 7 to 10 p.m. every day classes are in session.