Fact Check

Unborn Baby Becomes Pregnant While Still Inside the Womb

Rumor: Doctors discovered that a pregnant woman's unborn daughter was also pregnant.

Published June 23, 2014

Claim:

Claim:   Doctors discovered that a pregnant woman's unborn daughter was also pregnant.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via Facebook, June 2014]


True? "Unborn Baby Becomes Pregnant While Still Inside the Womb"

 

Origins:   On 23 June 2014, Empire News published an article positing that doctors in Portland had discovered that a pregnant woman's unborn daughter was also pregnant:



A pregnant woman in Portland, Oregon was hospitalized this week with extreme stomach pains, and doctors were extremely shocked at what they discovered.

Mary Lambert, who is 8 months pregnant, went to Silverstein Memorial Hospital in Portland when she thought she might be going into labor. Doctors examined her, and initially could not figure out what was causing Lambert’s pain. After an ultrasound to check on her baby, they were taken aback to find that her unborn daughter was also pregnant.

"I have never in my life seen anything like this." Said Dr. Joseph Goldsmith, a pediatric surgeon at Silverstein. "I don't think anyone has. This is the first time that an unborn baby has become impregnated. It’s so far beyond rare that we didn’t know it was possible."


Soon afterwards links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered the item mistaking it for a genuine news article. However, the article was just a bit of satire from Empire News, a web site that publishes fictional stories such as "Cure for Cancer Discovered; 'Amazingly Simple' Says Researcher," and "College Student Excused from Classes After Dog Eats Grandmother," and "Woman Gives Birth, Confuses Doctors by Asking for Maternity Test."

Empire News's disclaimer page notes that it "is a satirical and entertainment website."

(A real-life case of a newborn found to be carrying twin fetuses was reported in February 2015, several months after Empire News' publication of this satirical article.)

Last updated:   10 February 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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