Has anyone watched Maternal Instinct (Netflix) yet?

[Hinthebuild]

Has anyone watched the new documentary on Netflix called Maternal Instinct yet? I had never heard of this case before and am just absolutely stunned. 🤯 How can someone have the capacity for such evil?

Ooooh, as soon as the England vs Croatia match is finished, I will have a look at this!

I must have missed where it said why her first two kids were removed? That should have rung alarm bells.

Absolutely awful story.

I'm always amazed in these documentaries how unprofessional the American police seem compared to ours, too.

I dont agree that Wade needs to take any blame, he looks like a broken man.

Taylor had faked pregnancy before and is still up to her games in prison.

I have been following a case in Arizona of a woman called Laura Owens who has faked pregnancies with men, even taking them to court for paternity . She is facing trial for 14 felonies next month. She has exactly the same playbook as Taylor Parker but not gone that extra step of committing murder.

I agree, she basically commited a horrific act to keep him happy? He looked like one of those blank men who actually wouldn’t be bothered either way if he had a child or not. The futility of that must be so painful for the poor victims family.

Just watched it. I knew as soon as she got out the car she hadn't given birth, no blood on the back of her trousers. But I assumed she'd stolen a baby until they mentioned the placenta, then I was just confused. When the truth came out, I was horrified. Poor Reagan, and her young daughter to be witness to her mother's screams.

I just didn't understand the relationship between Wade and Taylor. I could see why he would fancy her, but he actually seemed to go off her pretty quickly and it was only the money keeping him interested. But what did she see in him? Why fake the pregnancy and keep it going? Especially when the family and friends were pulling back. Why not cut your losses and start over somewhere else?

I’ve just read an incredibly detailed official court document on this case, and it says that Taylor’s ex-husband consented to the hysterectomy after doctors discovered endometriosis whilst she was under anaesthesia during exploratory surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Endometriosis is not an emergency situation that requires a hysterectomy. It’s very questionable to me that a husband was able to consent to his wife’s reproductive organs being permanently removed (when it was not an emergency situation). It seems unethical.

She was desperate to keep Wade by having a child with him but couldn’t fall pregnant because of the hysterectomy. I obviously don’t think Taylor should have had any more kids (as there’s something very wrong with her), but her having another child and committing financial crimes (as she most likely would have) would have been better than her faking a pregnancy and murdering a woman to steal her baby. Would this crime have been avoided if a hysterectomy wouldn’t have been performed without her consent? Would Reagan and Braxlynn be alive? I believe so.

law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2025/ap-77-110.html

@KandLanf She’d also had her tubes tied because she wanted to be sterilised so would have had to have that reversed irrespective of having had a hysterectomy.

The Laura Owen’s case is still ongoing and is a wild ride. She faked pregnancies and ruined lives. The podcast is ‘Love Trapped’.

The doctors wouldn’t have wanted to do the hysterectomy for the fun of it. There would have been a very very strong medical reason it was required. Thay will not have been done lightly. I think you’re trying to blame the husband, when in reality yes spouses have the ability to make the decision when we are unable. But the hysterectomy the doctors would have told him why it was absolutely necessary. It won’t have been his idea. No doctor would do that. And no doctor would do it if it wasn’t required.

Also it wasnt just endometriosis, it was an eptopic pregnancy and cysts on her ovary. Also she had approached the same doctor 14 months early and asked for tubal litigation and its not clear if she actually gone ahead with it

With her calculating, needy, dishonest, entitled, and desperate personality, she would have wreaked absolute havoc elsewhere. This was only ever going one way. No matter people's predicament, trauma, or fragilities, we always make choices. She chose to lie and manipulate because those are the tools she uses to deal with people and pursue her goals. As we have seen, she hasn't learned a thing, and is still lying and manipulating in jail. that level of ingrained dishonesty is a personality trait.

Most people lie at one time or another, but for some, deceitfulness is a habitual tool they reach for whenever they want to influence or control a situation. It's their personality, very ugly.

Yes, she had already had the tubal ligation too.

Her children I don't think were removed from her, she just seemed to have no interest in raising them. I think the second one she didn't contest custody in the divorce, and the first she had very young.

I saw on reddit that she seems to have brain damage issues from her childhood/ teens. Also a sexual assault brushed under the carpet by her guardian, huge weight gain as a child, various health issues, a gastric sleeve, a baby in her teens, a hysterectomy she hadn't herself consented to. Certainly not making excuses, just that there was a lot more to this story with a lot going on in her background before this. Too much to fit into the documentary.

This wasn't even the first pregnancy she faked with Wade. She'd claimed to be pregnant with his twins right at the start of the relationship too, but "lost" them in an accident.

I know I'm a lone voice on here thinking Wade bears some moral responsibility. On Reddit though, many agree. The outcome of Reagan's husbands civil claim is unclear; it may still be ongoing. His legal claim against Wade seems to be limited to him owning the vehicle she used to kidnap the baby.

Wade was blinded by the money. He was expecting to reap millions so didn't rock the boat with her despite everyone telling him that she wasn't pregnant. He must have known too, but just had his eyes on the prize.

Obviously no-one could expect what actually happened, but the medics cared enough to fear an abduction and try to prevent that possibility.

The way he treats and abuses animals doesn't make him a sympathetic character either. I don't know if he is low IQ or simply low in morals.

Ive been following the Laura Owens case since her court appearance that was on Law Talk with Mike where she wore a fake belly. Its never ending!

Wow, I didn’t know this. They made it sound like she chose to have a hysterectomy in the documentary. Regardless of how much I despise her, I can agree that it shouldn’t be legal to do a surgery like that without the patient’s explicit permission. Tubal ligations are reversible. Hysterectomies aren’t.

It's on my watch list but not watched it. Have you watched The mother of all cons on BBC player?

As a PP said, it wasn't simply endometriosis. During the surgery they found an ectopic pregnancy and cysts and of course the damaged fallopian tubes too. I think she retained one ovary. I read that both her mother and husband gave consent for the hysterectomy.

I can understand her feelings on not being consulted, but would she really have chosen against the surgery in the circumstances? Tubal ligations are not reversible in the same way as vasectomies often are.

Of course removing her uterus meant she couldn't carry another child and I read that as well as offering (fictional) money for her friends to be surrogates, she also tried to persuade her mother to donate HER uterus to her.

It says in the paperwork that the hysterectomy was done because they found that she had endometriosis. It just happened to be that they found the endo when doing the surgery for the ectopic, which a hysterectomy isn’t needed for an ectopic or cysts on the ovaries. I have endo, and it’s not life threatening. An immediate hysterectomy wouldn’t be necessary.

Yeah I think yoire going down a dodgy path of accusing doctors to wish to do a hysterectomy when it wasn’t required. This would be very unusual. Life isn’t like tne movies.

Her mother and her husband gave consent, ghe fact it was done during the surgery would indicate it was basically the only option when they went in . It is normal to give the ability to consent to your relatives when you’re in surgery.

I don’t think there is any suggestion the doctors acted improperly here. From her or her family, as such I’d assume this was absolutely required.

I just watched this yesterday. I had to step away from it when they played the 911 call of Reagans mum finding her and howling in grief. It was horrendous.

I know that Taylor doesn’t deserve a voice but I’m intrigued to know if she still believes or maintains that it was her baby or if she ever talked about what her ultimate plan was when faking the pregnancy? Did she ever admit to it all? She seems absolutely deluded

You must remember that this is the United States we’re talking about. Many doctors in America won’t perform sterilisation on a married woman who wants it without her spouse’s agreement. It doesn’t surprise me that they would sterilise a woman who has already had 2 kids without her consent. It’s a backward country.

I watched this with DD(20s) yesterday. Neither of us knew what was coming.

We both sort of thought she'd end up going into a hospital and stealing a baby or something. When it slowly dawned on us near the end what was about to happen we were sickened.

She never intended for that poor baby to survive. It was just a 'prop' to 'prove' she'd been pregnant.

😞

She was already sterilised and given consent.

Having your tubes tied and having a hysterectomy are two different things. Consent to one does not equal consent to the other.

@StudyinBlue-
did he mean he never loved her or didn’t say it?

@Twasasurprise I agree with your post, Wade is not a good person. Yes he is stupid but he’s also greedy and ready to do anything for money.

Interesting re her childhood, something went very wrong for Taylor to end up like she did. The fact she’s completely remorseless and lacks empathy is terrifying.

As PP have said, this wasn't a situation where her life was in imminent danger. The specific gynaecological issues (ectopic pregnancy, endometriosis, cysts on ovaries) that she was experiencing did not necessitate an emergency full-blown hysterectomy in her case. She had even been unknowingly living with the cysts on her ovaries and endometriosis up until that point which further supports the point that is being made. The woman is a monster but am not sure how you could justify this.

They could have just removed the ectopic pregnancy (which was the goal of the surgery) and waited until she was out of surgery to discuss what was seen and determine if she would like a hysterectomy to be performed in the future. It's clear that she wouldn't have agreed to a hysterectomy based on the way that she reacted when told. I won't speak for others, but what I am saying is that she wasn't going to die if she didn't have the hysterectomy, so it wasn't the only option. A discussion could have been had.