The mistrial of Lindsay Clancy, a former Massachusetts maternity nurse who strangled her three children with exercise bands before attempting suicide in 2023, has reignited debate over how the justice system treats mothers accused of killing their children while suffering severe mental illness. A jury of three men and nine women could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether Clancy's actions stemmed from postpartum psychosis, as her defence argued, or were a deliberate, calculated act, as prosecutors contended, and the judge declared a mistrial, leaving open the possibility of a retrial.

Clancy survived her suicide attempt but was left paralysed and wheelchair-bound; commentators argue she is already living a form of life sentence. Supporters travelled across America to back her in court, citing statistics that postpartum psychosis affects roughly two in 1,000 women while postnatal depression is far more common, affecting 10–15 per cent. Journal extracts presented at trial detailed her exhaustion, insomnia and despair in the months before the killings. Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, who has since remarried, has publicly maintained that he "wasn't married to a monster" but someone who became ill, while stressing the toll another trial would take on him.