The Houston area branch of the National Organization for Women recently announced that it and several other groups had formed the Andrea Pia Yates Support Coalition to raise money for the defense of Yates, 37, who admitted drowning her five children. As Debora Bell, president of the group explained, “One of our feminist beliefs is to be there for other women. Some good may come out of this tragedy.”

Along with possible future fund raisers, the group is planning to hold a candle light vigil on Sept. 12 for Yates — the day before she is supposed to appear in court for a hearing to determine whether she is competent to stand trial.

In a column on the topic, Wendy McElroy report that FEMNET, an online forum used by the Houston area NOW, included a request to send “cards or notes of caring” to Yates in prison. McElroy adds, “I searched but found no record of FEMNET requesting ‘notes of caring’ be sent to the funeral of her children.”

I wonder if Nikolay Soltys, who is still on the loose and accused of murdering his wife and unborn baby, 3 year-old son, and five other family members, will receive similar sympathy and outpourings if he explains that he was insane at the time of the killings. Even if he does, however, I don’t think any men’s groups will come out and say they have to support Soltys because they have to “be there for other men.”

Sources:

Rallying Around a Baby-Killer. Wendy McElroy, IFeminists.Com, August 28, 2001.

NOW, ACLU oppose seeking death penalty for Yates. Pam Easton, Associated Press, August 28, 2001.

NOW creates coalition to raise funds for Yates. Lisa Teachey, The Houston Chronicle, August 23, 2001.

The NOW Chapter Raises Money for Yates by Brian Carnell, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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