Lindsay Clancy’s ‘pink lady’ supporters rally outside court as heartbreaking triple murder trial captivates nation: ‘Women are being dismissed’
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Hundreds of women dressed in pink turned up outside a Massachusetts courthouse Thursday in support of Lindsay Clancy — whose heart-wrenching triple murder trial has sparked discussion over maternal health care across the country.
Many of the demonstrators — wearing supportive buttons and shirts that read “Peace for Lindsay” and “Justice for Lindsay” — erupted into applause and cheers as the 36-year-old mother’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, arrived at court Thursday.
“We love you Kevin,” one said, as another yelled, “Reddington is fighting for women’s rights.”
Reddington has argued Clancy was experiencing severe postpartum psychosis and hearing voices when she used elastic exercise bands to strangle Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan before she tried to kill herself in their Duxbury, Mass., home on Jan. 24, 2023.
The case has garnered national attention, leading Clancy to gain a loyal army of supporters who sympathize with the mother and her postpartum mental health struggles.
Women have opened up online about their own experiences with postpartum — while others have spread wild and unfounded conspiracy theories suggesting Clancy’s then-husband, Patrick Clancy, carried out the heinous acts and framed her for it.
Hayden Panettiere’s death over the weekend and her openness about her past struggles with postpartum have also fed into the online discourse about the condition.
Renee Kimball, the advocate who organized the rally, trusted that Reddington was fighting for Clancy.
“It’s important that we just be still, have a moment of silence and know that God is working through us for Lindsay and for the rest of the world that are going through similar things she is going through,” she said.
April Vincent, a 52-year-old paralegal who traveled to the Plymouth, Mass., courthouse from Providence, Rhode Island, said: “Women are being dismissed, neglected and ignored when we speak up.”
“We’re scared because nobody takes us seriously. Nobody wants to hear us and really we just need to be heard. I’ve been dismissed plenty of times,” she added.
At one point during the rally, supporters formed a prayer circle and made hearts with their hands that they lifted into the air. Some of the allies flew flags from other countries, an apparent show of global support for Clancy.
Moms also brought their own children to the demonstration — and some supporters were even seen donning pink in the courtroom.
One retired nurse, Jeanne Zaborski, 72, said she hoped Clancy’s case would shine a light on postpartum health.
“It’s very sad,” said Zaborski. “I am a mother. I am a grandmother. I have a sister who had problems after birth and it’s just very sad. I hope Lindsay gets the care she needs and deserves and other women will come together like we did today.”
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There's alot of talk about men having issues and being incels, but this depravity takes the cake.
Whether is social media or something else, there are way too many broken brained people celebrating a child murderer.
I think you are far too dismissive here. Whether or not it is ultimately proven that Lindsay Clancy was in a state of psychosis, labeling people who may have considerably more experience with serious mental illness than you do as “broken brained” pretty much demonstrates the problem.
People close to someone who is deteriorating can often see it long before the system is willing or able to do anything. They watch judgment disappear, paranoia grow, medications fail, and ordinary functioning fall apart, while being told there is little that can be done until the person becomes an immediate danger.
Civil-liberties protections matter. I understand why those protections exist. But there has to be something between locking people away and waiting until they become too hard to handle.
That is why people can look at Lindsay Clancy and ask whether severe mental illness played a role without “celebrating a child murderer.” Some of them may simply understand something that you are dismissing: by the time serious mental illness produces a catastrophe, people around that person may have been trying to get help for a very long time.
Calling them “broken brained” avoids that question. It does not answer it.
If Lindsay Clancy had methodically strangled and killed three puppies, instead of her own children, almost all of the women defending her now would instead be calling for her execution.
That's not really an exaggeration.
The civil-liberties protections have an important purpose. History gives us plenty of reasons to be wary of involuntary treatment. But there is also something deeply wrong with a system whose practical answer can amount to:
“Yes, we agree this person is deteriorating. No, we cannot meaningfully intervene yet. Come back when it becomes dangerous.”
Protecting autonomy should not require pretending that impaired people always possess the same ability to recognize their own deterioration and seek appropriate care. Nor should the only alternative be confinement.
Anosognosia is real and present and mental illness and insight are not static.