Massachusetts governor proposes improved postpartum healthcare after
Lindsay Clancy trial
[September 16, 2026]
By LEAH WILLINGHAM
BOSTON (AP) — New parents in Massachusetts should receive better support
and postpartum care, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday, following the
high-profile murder trial of Lindsay Clancy who, her attorneys argued,
was suffering from unresolved postpartum psychosis when she killed her
three children in 2023.
Healey proposed providing free home visits by nurses to all parents with
newborns as well as updated regulations governing mental health
screening of new mothers.
“To every mom who has struggled with her mental health before, during or
after pregnancy, I want you to know we see you — I see you,” Healey said
during a visit to Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“We need to talk more openly about this,” said Healey, who signed a
maternal health law in 2024 that expanded access to doulas, midwives and
birth centers, and required insurers to cover postpartum depression
screenings.
Both sides agreed that Clancy killed her three children, then tried to
take her own life by jumping from a second-floor window. The
Massachusetts mother is now paralyzed from the waist down. Her attorneys
argued she could not be held criminally responsible because of
postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors said she should be found guilty
because evidence indicated she knew what she was doing was wrong.
A mistrial was declared when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Healey, a Democrat, said she plans to ask state lawmakers to approve $2
million for a program aimed at offering home visits to all families
welcoming the roughly 68,000 newborns in Massachusetts each year. No
families would be required to participate, but those who do can have a
nurse visit and answer questions about feeding, sleep, and caring for a
new baby. The nurse would also monitor mothers' postpartum health, as
well as screen for depression and other mental health concerns.
This would be the first state investment in a federally funded program
that currently provides nurse visits to about 3,000 families each year,
Healey said.
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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey speaks at the 2024 Democratic
National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul
Sancya, File)
 Healey also proposed a $250,000
investment in the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program for
Moms and directed the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to
update state regulations on perinatal mental health screenings to
identify concerns during and after pregnancy.
Giving birth can be one of life’s most joyous experiences, Healey
said, “but it’s also one of the most challenging.”
“For new mothers, it can be exhausting, isolating and overwhelming,”
she said.
Massachusetts has long been a national leader in expanding access to
health care, with one of the lowest uninsured rates in the U.S. Its
landmark 2006 health care law, which sought near-universal coverage,
became a model for key parts of the federal Affordable Care Act.
Yet maternal care gaps remain. Mental illness, including substance
use disorder, was the leading underlying cause of death for pregnant
women and new mothers in Massachusetts from 2019 through 2024,
accounting for 38%, according to the state’s maternal mortality
review committee. The panel also concluded that 85% of those deaths
were preventable and more than half occurred between seven days and
one year after giving birth.
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