Sept. 4, 2026—PORTLAND, Ore. — Postpartum Assist Worldwide, the nation’s main nonprofit devoted to perinatal psychological well being, believes the choice to attempt Lindsay Clancy for first-degree homicide calls for that we, as a society, confront an uncomfortable reality. The US continues to prosecute moms for the implications of a extreme, poorly understood, non permanent, and treatable psychological well being situation associated to childbirth. A reality that our medical and authorized techniques have failed to acknowledge.
We’re dissatisfied however not stunned that the 12-member jury was unable to achieve a verdict within the trial of Lindsay Clancy. World wide, authorized techniques have grappled with the advanced relationship between childbirth, critical psychological sickness, and filicide. Greater than two dozen international locations, together with England, Canada, and Australia, have infanticide legal guidelines that present a definite authorized framework recognizing {that a} mom’s psychological state inside the first 12 months could also be thought-about when figuring out legal accountability. These legal guidelines direct these moms towards psychiatric care reasonably than jail (Spinelli, American Journal of Psychiatry, 2004; Feingold and Lewis, Archives of Ladies’s Psychological Well being, 2025). Postpartum psychosis carries a documented danger of infanticide of roughly 1 to 4 p.c of ladies with postpartum psychosis, when it goes unrecognized and untreated (Alford et al., Archives of Ladies’s Psychological Well being, 2025). PSI will maintain pushing for training, for entry to emergency perinatal psychiatric care, and for legal guidelines in each state that deal with these moms as sufferers.
About Postpartum Assist Worldwide
Based by a brand new mom in 1987 to extend consciousness among the many public {and professional} communities concerning the emotional difficulties dad and mom can expertise throughout and after being pregnant, Postpartum Assist Worldwide (PSI) gives a wealth of sources for a variety of wants, conditions, and audiences to provide households the strongest and healthiest begin attainable by assist and neighborhood. PSI gives assist, sources, best-practice training, and certification for healthcare professionals and volunteer coordinators nationwide and in additional than 30 international locations. PSI is dedicated to eliminating stigma and making certain that compassionate, high-quality care and assist can be found to all households. Need assistance? Name or textual content 1-800-944-4PPD (4773), go to Postpartum.net, or obtain the Join by PSI app. For prescribing suppliers within the U.S., PSI operates a free perinatal psychiatric consultation program at consultation@postpartum.net, staffed by PSI perinatal psychiatric specialists who’re specialists within the therapy of perinatal psychological well being issues.
Discover these PSI Sources:
Postpartum Psychosis Information and Resources
PSI Support and Resources
PSI’s Perinatal Psychiatric Consult Program
Advanced Postpartum Psychosis Training
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