More than two dozen countries around the world have special laws to prevent a new mother from being convicted of murder if she kills her own child within 12 months of giving birth.  That means a jury would not be considering first or second degree murder charges against Lindsay Clancy if the same exact scenario happened in most other western, industrialized countries. It all dates back to the “Infanticide Act of 1938” which allows for manslaughter charges to be brought against a mother who kills her child under a year old because “the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of gibing birth to the child.”