In the early evening hours of Jan. 24, 2023, then 32-year-old Lindsay Clancy killed her three children in the family’s Massachusetts home. When her husband Patrick Clancy arrived back after running errands and getting takeout, he found his wife hurt in the backyard. She had jumped out of the upstairs window. Patrick then found his three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. They had all been strangled with exercise bands.
There is no dispute as to whether Lindsay Clancy, who is now paralyzed from the waist down, killed her own offspring. Anyone who believes alternative theories, such as the husband did it, is peddling monstrous lies and should be roundly condemned. The real matter at hand is whether Clancy’s mental state at the time makes her criminally liable and legally responsible. Her defense team says no, due to mental illness, including postpartum psychosis. The prosecution says that, based on evidence, which appears to be some planning, Clancy knew what she was doing and chose to kill.
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The case is a true nightmare. A mother killing her own children goes against every fiber of our biology. As a society, we recoil at this evil. It’s impossible to comprehend.
The reaction to this case has been mixed. And the extremes are the loudest.
On one hand, thousands of women have coalesced online around Lindsay Clancy, certain that she is the victim in all this. A victim of uncontrolled mental illness and pharmacological malpractice. They repulsively empathize with her as though she is the one we should feel the most sorry for. This goes far beyond just understanding the difficulties of motherhood. There is even a GoFundMe for Clancy’s parents called The Musgrove Family Fund. It has raised nearly $1 million. Many of the comments on the fund page are from women who “stand with Lindsay.”
Conversely, there are people who think claims of postpartum struggles are either fake or because women are weak. Matt Walsh, for example, posted on X that it’s proof of selfishness. In his corner online are thousands of men, unfortunately, many on the political right, who agree with him. These men have mocked women who struggle with hormonal changes following childbirth. It is sexism, plain and simple.
At the very least, Lindsay Clancy should spend the rest of her life separated from the rest of society. She has shown herself to be a danger to others. She is reportedly still suicidal. She needs to be monitored by healthcare personnel and given the appropriate medication and therapy. Only time will tell whether she is found guilty in a court of law.
Those in the online frat boy crowd who, because of Clancy, are dismissing real, non-homicidal postpartum struggles many women face are a cancer to conservatism. Not only are these claims false, but they harm the conservative message of “get married and have babies.” If we can’t be honest about the good as well as bad, how are we to encourage others to establish families? Working through life struggles is a must. Being clear about those difficulties and not being ashamed of them is also mandatory.
It’s hard to say just how the Lindsay Clancy trial will conclude. No matter what happens, the takeaways should neither excuse violence and murder nor assume postpartum mental health disorders are just feminist fabrications.
There is no comfort to be found in the story of Lindsay Clancy. There is no real victory in either a guilty or not guilty verdict. Three innocent children are gone, a family that existed is no longer, a marriage is over, and we’ve all been exposed to the worst kind of horror. There is nothing to be gained from artificial peace that places Clancy in a better light or views all women with a distrustful eye, simply because they are struggling. We can condemn violence and murder without treating mental illness as fake. Both things can be true.