Women on Death Row in the United States: 'Maternal Instinct' Subject Taylor Parker and More

Women on Death Row in the United States centers on the current cases of 45 women sentenced to death, as reported by the Death Penalty Information Center. Only 14 states allow the death penalty, and the article highlights several women whose stories have received different levels of attention. It notes that Taylor Parker, the youngest woman on death row in Texas, was sentenced to death in October 2022 for killing expectant mother Reagan Simmons-Hancock in October 2020; she is awaiting an execution date at the Patrick L. O’Daniel Unit in Gatesville. Christa Gail Pike, on death row in Tennessee, was convicted for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer and is scheduled for execution on September 30, 2026. Brenda Andrew received a death sentence in Oklahoma in 2001, and Shawna Forde was charged in Arizona in May 2009.