Rally in support of US mother who killed her children

Hundreds of supporters, many wearing pink clothing emblazoned with phrases such as "She Needed Help" and "Peace For Lindsay," have gathered outside a courthouse where a mother is on trial for the killings of her three children.

Lindsay Clancy's lawyer does not dispute that she killed the children, but says she should not be held criminally responsible because she was mentally ill

Several of the 300 women, and a few men, gathered at the court saying they wanted to raise awareness about how the mental health system treats women.

The livestreamed trial has brought attention to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington says she had.

The condition is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

Reddington said Clancy also has bipolar disorder. After strangling her children, she jumped from a second-story window and remains paralysed from the waist down.

Reddington says Clancy repeatedly sought help: She turned to multiple outpatient providers, tried various drugs they prescribed, called a suicide hotline, went to an emergency room, and even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors say the former labour and delivery nurse planned the 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house.

They have also questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt, and witnesses have testified that Clancy wouldn't always take prescribed medications.

The women at the rally stood silently for more than an hour ahead of proceedings, where a chaplain called by the defence testified about visiting Clancy in the hospital after the killings.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. Researchers estimate that postpartum psychosis — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery.

Chaplain Sheila Cavanaugh told the court she vividly remembered one of the first things Clancy said to her.

"She said to me, as I held her hand to comfort her, 'I'm so glad my children are safe,'" Cavanaugh said. "I replied theologically to Lindsay. I said, 'Lindsay, your children are safe. They're safe in heaven with God.'"

Cavanaugh said Clancy "alluded to hearing a voice, and the voice, according to Lindsay, told her that if she did not follow the command, neither she nor her children would be safe."