a mother of five so-called "children,"
supported by her husband.
And now the right-wing radical Texas prosecutor wants to help make Yates life even more difficult by punishing her.
Unlike Timothy McVeigh, who allegedly had been sent to war and might have been suffering from alleged "post-traumatic stress syndrome," or Nikolay Soltys, who recently made the difficult decision to terminate the lives of six family members and some might argue was suffering from alleged "provider-stress syndrome," Yates ordeal was nearly incomprehensible.
Year after year for almost a decade, Yates had been forced to endure the burden of being supported by a man.
Yates' hardship is so heart-wrenching that clearly she's entitled to treatment and not punishment. But radical right-wing extremists say Yates is not fit to be president and to control the nuclear codes simply because she is a woman!
The right-wing media have been pursuing a very disturbing line of questioning, such as whether this beautiful, fascinating, delicate flower Andrea Yates "murdered" her so-called "children."
NOW facts about post-partum depression:
When facing an unplanned depression, many women (about 27 percent) make the difficult decision to kill their children.
A substantial number of those who do not (79 percent) cite fear of prison as the main reason.
Many state laws (98 percent) illogically treat women like rational beings.
Many women (64 percent) are mature enough to become mothers, but not mature enough to make their own abortion decisions before the choice grows into a teen-ager.
Judicial approval for post-partum choice is time-consuming and increases physical, emotional and financial hardship (71 percent).
Anti-choice laws pressuring women not to kill their children are dangerous. As the Taliban instructs, no one has ever produced a shred of evidence that women are capable of being treated like rational adults.
NBC "Today Show" host and president of the Andrea Yates Legal Defense Fund Katie Couric has observed, "Yates was an extremely troubled woman." (Call 1-800-We-R-Nuts to contribute!) Couric advised that "any money left over will be given to women's charities dealing with post-partum depression and psychosis."
Join NBC. Join Rosie and Katie. Do it for your daughter or your granddaughter (unless you are depressed and need to kill them).
Women elected the last president, and we will elect his successor. We have tremendous power as voters, as activists and as organizers in our communities. We will create a feminist future. And we are out of our minds.