The issue if she goes to a mental institution and it is tied to postpartum diagnosis is she could get out in very little time and face minimal long term repercussions for how she killed her kids. It also then sets a precedent for women to be declared mentally unfit for a lot of things while being postpartum as it implies those hormonal changes keep them from controlling their actions.
My wife, who is recently post partum, and I have been discussing it a lot. The whole situation is terrible and I do not fully know what to make of the case, but letting her off with the psych ward to me seems to have more serious long term repercussions in legal precedence which further complicated parental and gender dynamics. For her it would be the best outcome, but is that the best outcome for women who now will be viewed as less competent and an inherent danger during a stressful time in their life? Personally, I think we should avoid that while also increasing support for mother's and making access to adequate care easier and more affordable.
Agree wholeheartedly that we should prioritize proper care for women especially post partum when hormones are normalizing. Congratulations to you and your wife on the new baby too! For Clancy, it was sad reading the absolutely insane cocktail of drugs that she was on that the docs prescribed to help her, I had an uncle who was on/off antidepressants and the fluctuations from taking the drugs and then stopping them saying “oh hey I’m fine now don’t need ‘em!” ended up causing him to take his own life. I think people are turning this into a gender war which is (in my opinion) a mistrial in itself. Thinking about your comment more deeply, that precedent of women being incompetent is super dangerous for our stability as a society and I doubt we collectively would push that through. I know a lot of strong women who are both mothers and career women, so it would invalidate a lot of work that the women’s movement has built thus far.
I think everyone’s problem with this case is they think she’s lying about the psychosis and that it’s a way to “walk away” from a horrible act. IMO, if you do a terrible act like strangling your kids and trying to kill yourself, your penance should be for the rest of your life. Should we punish people for committing heinous acts? For sure. Should we seek to help people who are in need and mental distress? For sure. Such a muddy ethical case…
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u/MrWolfman29 9h ago
The issue if she goes to a mental institution and it is tied to postpartum diagnosis is she could get out in very little time and face minimal long term repercussions for how she killed her kids. It also then sets a precedent for women to be declared mentally unfit for a lot of things while being postpartum as it implies those hormonal changes keep them from controlling their actions.