We’re Asking the Wrong Questions About Lindsay Clancy

Conspiracy theories and gender war hot takes derail the conversation we should be having about postpartum care 

By Alex Buscemi, Editorial Manager at Builders

Lindsay Clancy is a Massachusetts mother who admitted to strangling her three young children to death in 2023 while in the grip of severe postpartum psychosis. As of this writing, the jury in her trial is deadlocked, and the judge has ordered them to continue deliberations. 

It’s a horrific case that has much of the world feeling similarly deadlocked. If she's found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a mental health facility, it may strike many as an injustice to the children. Yet a guilty verdict that sends her to prison may sit just as uneasily once we weigh the systemic failures in her care: the multiple providers who prescribed a heavy regimen of medications but failed to recognize her severe postpartum psychosis until it was too late.

There’s no good path forward. Neither of these options would mend the national heartbreak surrounding the case. Which is perhaps why so many of us have turned to social media for a different set of options: conspiracy theories and gender war hot takes that bypass Lindsay entirely and give us a far tidier villain. 

True Crime junkies rack up millions of views poring over unfounded rumors that Patrick Clancy (Lindsay’s ex-husband and father of the children) is the real murderer. Self-professed “body language analysts” study Lindsay’s facial expressions to uncover her apparent innocence. 

Opportunistic content creators project their own frustrations onto the case. Women blame Patrick — yet another lazy and useless male partner — for failing to uphold his end of the parenting bargain, allowing Lindsay to become overwhelmed as she bore the brunt of the child-rearing. The manosphere responded in kind, blaming the scourge of feminism for brainwashing women to support filicide.  

These approaches are great for clicks and views and follows. They are effective because they are luridly exciting, feed on a growing mistrust of the medical and criminal justice systems, or offer a clear enemy: men or women. 

They also distract us from the common ground the vast majority of us share: expanded postpartum care is needed in America.

Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America (HMHBA) recently released a poll that found maternal health is an area where people across the political spectrum agree. And not only do we agree that it needs to be fixed – we agree on how to fix it.

The survey was conducted by KAConsulting, LLC, who surveyed 1,001 registered voters nationwide from July 12–16, 2026. Here are some of the most striking findings:

• 85% support postpartum home visits or virtual check-ins shortly after childbirth.
• 87% support taking a whole-health approach to pregnancy, including maternal mental health, nutrition, and chronic disease care.
• 83% support expanding insurance coverage and telehealth throughout the first year after delivery.
• 79% were more likely to support reforms after learning that 84% of maternal deaths are preventable.
• 76% were more likely to support reforms after learning that one in five women experiences postpartum anxiety, depression, or birth-related PTSD.

Of the 15 policy proposals tested, 13 drew support from at least 80% of voters. All 15 cleared 72%. That support held across party, region, and age groups. 79% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported such policies.

And once people learned more about the crisis, the stronger and more urgent their agreement became. Support for improving maternal health climbed from 77% to 86% once voters heard the facts, with the share who said it needs improvement "a great deal" jumping from 43% to 59%.

HMHBA is a bipartisan national campaign with an ambitious stated goal: cutting the U.S. maternal mortality rate in half within five years. KAConsulting is led by Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Republican pollster and former Trump adviser, which signals the effort's deliberate reach across the aisle. 

“America should be the safest place in the world to have a baby, and right now it is not,” said Olivia Walton, HMHBA founder. “What this research shows is that Americans agree — across every line that usually divides us. The challenge is not about a shortage of solutions, and it is not a shortage of public will. It is the urgency to act on both.”

However you look at it, the Clancy family’s story is a tragedy. It's also an opportunity for change. With so many eyes on postpartum care right now, and the midterms roughly two months out, this is the moment to find the candidates in your area who will fight to expand it, and to ask the ones already in office where they stand.

Don't get pulled into the conspiracy theories and the men-versus-women blame spiral. That noise leads nowhere, and it dishonors what happened. The children murdered that day — Cora, Dawson, and Callan — deserve better than to become someone's viral content. The way we honor them is by fixing the system so fewer families ever end up here again.

Alex Buscemi can be reached at abuscemi@buildersmovement.org