Hundreds of women dressed in pink gathered outside the courthouse on Thursday, Aug. 20, where Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy is on trial for the murder of her three children. They came by car and plane, from across the state and across the country to support Clancy, according to event organizer Renee Kimball.

Clancy, 36, is on trial for the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her three children – Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months – at the family’s Duxbury home. She has pleaded not guilty to all three counts.

According to the prosecution, Clancy allegedly planned the killings by sending her husband to pick up takeout food and medicine, then, while he was gone, strangling the children to death with exercise bands. Afterward, Clancy cut her wrists and neck and jumped out of a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed.

Clancy’s defense argues that she is not guilty because she lacks criminal responsibility, which is more commonly known as an insanity defense. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington says Clancy she was suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis at the time of the killings.

The case has garnered extensive publicity, both drawing attention to postpartum mental health and sparking widespread conspiracy theories.

Lindsay Clancy supporters advocate for changes in women’s health care

Kimball herself drove from Maine. She organized the event on social media.

“Everyone here behind me is here to make some changes (in women’s mental health care),” Kimball said.

Kimball, mother of a 21-year-old son, said she experienced undiagnosed postpartum anxiety and depression after his birth.

Early in the trial, Kimball said she watched as Clancy repeatedly broke down as the prosecution questioned the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on her children. The empathy she felt at that moment spurred her to start organizing that day, she said.

“I don’t believe Lindsay Clancy should be on trial,” Kimball told The Patriot Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. “I think the health care systems across the world should be on trial.”

Crowd cheers for Clancy’s defense attorney

As Kimball fielded questions from the media, a great cheer arose from the crowd, as defense attorney Reddington made his way to the courthouse entrance.

“Thank you is all I can say,” Reddington said of his response to the gathering. “It’s amazing.”

Reddington said the case has drawn intense public attention because it sheds light on problems in the mental health care system, which he says is overly reliant on prescription pills and gives too little time to understanding individual patients.

On the lawn, Jessica Ginnitti and her sister Nicole Ginnitti stood among the hundreds of supporters. They traveled from Connecticut.  

“We want to show Lindsay she is seen,” Jessica said. “She was failed by the medical system, but she does have support. She didn’t have the support of her husband or her doctors, but she does have it from us.”

Nicole said she empathizes with Clancy due to her own experience of postpartum depression.

“It could have been any of us,” she said.

Contributing: Melina Khan, USA TODAY