The Baby Trap: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Holesome.png|thumb]]
{{quote|''Billie Jean is not my lover.
''She's just a girl who
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In the manga version of ''[[Kare Kano]]'', {{spoiler|Souichiro Arima's birth mother Ryouko does this to squeeze child support money out of his father, Reiji, because she knows Reiji is the son of a rich doctor. (What she doesn't know is that Reiji is illegitimate, much younger than his father's legitimate children, and actively hated by all of them except Souji, the eldest.) She is both physically and emotionally abusive to poor Souichirou, and when Reiji finds out about Ryouko's deal, he asks Souji and his wife to raise Souichiro instead.}}
* Subverted hilariously early in ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'', when Ryoko implies that her ship's egg is actually her and Tenchi's. Tenchi's family and even Sasami are actually happy for them (though obviously not Aeka), totally ignoring Tenchi's denials. The egg quickly hatches and is revealed to be the cabbit-like Ryo-Ohki, but some swear they still see a resemblance to Tenchi.
* The is part of the [[Freudian Excuse]] for a pair of [[Creepy Twins]] in the ''[[Great Teacher Onizuka]]'' spinoff ''Shonan 14 Days'': their mother was having an affair and had the kids in an attempt to blackmail the father into marrying her.
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==
* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', [[Shakespeare in Fiction|Shakespeare]]'s wife implies she did this to Will and Will seems to think his eldest daughter is planning the same for her boyfriend.
* It's been [[Retcon
* In ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'', Rahne, who is very Protestant and pregnant with a mutant-Wolf God hybrid baby, lets ex-boyfriend Rictor assume that he's the father of her baby after returning to find him about to get busy with [[Ho Yay|Shatterstar]].
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== Literature ==
* Mentioned at the beginning of the first ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' book.
** Used by Drefan Rahl's mother with [[Big Bad|Darken Rahl]]. Her theory was that if she could give birth to a magically gifted child and heir, Darken Rahl would shower her with riches and status. When Drefan was born and found to be non-gifted, his mother [[Oh Crap|began to realize]] that her new son was now a liability and that her master plan was probably not that smartest thing she'd ever done. Before Darken Rahl found out about the child, she brought him to a remote monastery to be raised by monks and, in perpetual fear of the infinitely creative ways Darken Rahl would end her life if she were found, poisoned herself.
* Quite a few romance novels have this trope, usually with a [[Babies Make Everything Better]] ending.
** However, one case that [[Deconstruction|deals with the aftermath of this]] is ''Sisters Found'', where one of the lead characters had been adopted for just this reason. When it wasn't enough for the adoptive father to stay, the adoptive mother became an alcoholic and resented the hell out of her daughter. To make things worse, said daughter later finds out {{spoiler|that she was the only one of identical triplets to be given up - one of the other two had a medical problem and the cost of hospital bills was such that it was either give up one child or lose them all when Social Services saw they couldn't support their family}}. Not surprisingly, she has ''major'' commitment/abandonment issues.
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* A male example: in ''Morality Meat'' by James Tiptree Jr., a woman gets pregnant because her boyfriend pokes holes in the condoms. She found out about it after she heard him tell a friend to "keep his women a little bit pregnant". Classy.
* In [[Jennifer Crusie|Jennifer Crusie's]] ''Welcome to Temptation'', this happens TWICE. The main male character (many years before the book starts) marries his girlfriend at the time who becomes pregnant after lying to him about using birth control. A minor main character also marries a girlfriend who claims she's pregnant (also many years earlier), despite being in love with someone else. As the book puts it, "Eleven months later, sure enough, she had a baby."
** Also used in ''What a Lady Wants''. Armand first gets {{spoiler|June pregnant, then when that child dies he brings home his orphaned niece so she wouldn't leave.}} Then there's Stormy, who {{spoiler|poked holes in the condoms so Armand would marry her, who didn't know he had a secret vasectomy years before.}}
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
** It's also speculated that this was the reason the Muggles of Tom Riddle Sr.'s village used to explain why he inexplicably abandoned his previous girlfriend and ran off with a poor girl who lived in a shack - that Merope lied to him that she was pregnant with his child.
* In ''[[Brave Story]]'' we eventually learn that {{spoiler|Wataru's mom}} faked a pregnancy to get her ex (who was already in a relationship with another woman) to marry her. He does, but it doesn't end well.
* Invoked in a supernatural and [[Ho Yay]] way in ''[[Interview with the Vampire]]'': Lestat changes Claudia [[Undead Child|into a vampire]] so Louis will not leave
* In the second book of [[The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]] series, {{spoiler|a girl that Kostos slept with does this in order to guilt him into marrying her.}} In the fourth book, it's revealed that {{spoiler|she faked the pregnancy.}}
* In ''[[Kill Time or Die Trying]]'', a girl claims to be pregnant with Kevin's child, and the group {{spoiler|plot to steal a sample of her urine for a home pregnancy test. Successfully.}}.
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* Carla tries to do this in ''[[Scrubs]]''. Later she and Turk have an open and honest discussion in which they agree they both want to have kids ... after which he starts slipping her contraceptives when she's asleep.
** This is completely inverted with Jordan, who actually lies to Perry and claims their baby the baby isn't his, because they both have feelings for each other and she wants to make sure their relationship is based on real attraction rather than an obligation to do the right thing. They get together anyway, and he bonds with the baby before finding out he's the biological father.
** Also inverted with Kim, who leaves the hospital and fakes a miscarriage rather than have J.D. feel trapped into a relationship. Then he finds out the truth and decides he wants to be with her, than he changes his mind but can't tell her, then he finally breaks off the relationship ''while she's giving birth''.
* Variation in the ''[[CSI]]'' episode "4x4". An aging non-prostitute tries to get herself pregnant {{spoiler|by a client who rejected her as too old, via some semen in one of his used condoms}}. This being CSI, it ends badly for her.
* Every daytime soap ever, and nine tenths of every hispanic telenovelas made. Often coupled with (in)[[Convenient Miscarriage]]. One version even had the ''man'' being the one to poke the hole in the condom so that he could "do the right thing" and marry his girlfriend, while several others have had the woman damaging her ''diaphragm'' rather than the condom.
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** For a bit of irony, before the incident with Edie, Carlos managed to get Gabrielle pregnant by sabotaging her birth control, then blaming it on his deceased mother. He wanted children, and she didn't. It ends badly for everyone involved.
* In ''[[Weeds]]'' there's a rare male case; {{spoiler|Silas Botwin}} does this to {{spoiler|Meghan}} to keep her from going away to college. Apparently he thought this would lead to them becoming [[Happily Married]]. It does not go well.
** Later, {{spoiler|Nancy}} does it to {{spoiler|Esteban}}. This was less about maintaining a relationship than as self-defense against murder.
* Seska, of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', uses her pregnancy to manipulate both Chakotay and the Kazon Culluh, telling both of them the child was theirs in order to get what she wants. {{spoiler|It's Culluh's, and Seska's manipulations end when she's mortally wounded in an explosion, and Culluh escapes with his son.}}
* In ''[[Smallville]]'', there's a male example in which {{spoiler|Lex Luthor}} does this to {{spoiler|Lana Lang}}. It's even more of a dick move than most because {{spoiler|the baby isn't real; he's been slipping her hormones to make her ''think'' she's pregnant, likely intending to play the [[Convenient Miscarriage]] card on her after the wedding}}.
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* Sophie, Mark's baby-desperate (ex?) wife on ''[[Peep Show]]'' tries to trap Mark and/or his roommate Jez this way.
* In ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' season 2, Lily considered doing this to prevent Marshall from falling for Chloe. The alternative is called "Chloe's accident".
** When Lilly left him Marshall he laments that he should have 'knocked her up when he had the chance'.
* In ''[[
* On ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'', {{spoiler|Adrian plans to try this on Ben}} in an attempt to save their marriage since {{spoiler|they only got married because [[Shotgun Wedding|Adrian was pregnant]], and their relationship started to deteriorate after their daughter was stillborn}}. Since things were great {{spoiler|when she was pregnant, she seems to think [[Babies Make Everything Better|another baby will fix things]]}}. Ultimately, {{spoiler|she gives up on the plan when her doctor talks her out of it}} and when {{spoiler|Ben finds out her plan, keeps rejecting her advances, and finally confronts her about it}}
* In ''[[The Office]]'', Kelly told Ryan she was pregnant to get him to agree to go out with her again. Immediate cut to Kelly silently shaking her head at the camera.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* Done many, many, many times. The most obvious recent one is [[
** Stephanie's false pregnancy was found out in a most ingenious way though - Linda discovered that Steph's "doctor" was actually some infomercial host, and showed [[Triple H]] the evidence a few minutes before the trap would have been sprung.
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== Visual Novels ==
* In ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', in Kappei's path, {{spoiler|Kappei is borderline suicidal after learning his leg has to be amputated. His girlfriend Ryou, desperate to give him a reason to live, lies about being pregnant with his child. Kappei sees through it right away, though, since he and Ryou have never had sex (Ryou had somehow forgotten this minor detail when putting the plan together).}}
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* [http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sea/274495936.html This story] tells of a man who had his girlfriend try this on him. Unfortunately for her, he had gotten a vasectomy.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXgTFC79F0 This.]
* ''[[The Onion]]'' had one of my favorite evocations of this trope [https://web.archive.org/web/20120908080301/http://www.theonion.com/articles/plan-to-trap-boyfriend-aborted,24722/ Here.]
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== Real Life ==
* In a recent case in Texas, a man was required to pay child support after his girlfriend performed oral sex on him and then self-inseminated herself with the gathered sperm after he left.
* Does happen in [[Real Life]], tragically more often with abusive couples who believe that a baby will force their partner to stay. Sadly, they're sometimes right, especially when their partner would have financial troubles or lose custody of the child if they left. Worse still, some women will deliberately get pregnant to get Child Support off of the man, since it tends to also qualify her for other forms of government assistance (assuming she's not too wealthy). While laws are slowly becoming more gender neutral, the man will probably lose anyway if the girl was someone he just had a fling with, and so this is exploited by some women. The CDC's 2010 [http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey] found that approximately 4.8% of women and 8.7% of men had a sexual partner who tried to get them pregnant or get pregnant against their will.
** Possibly related to this, there is an increasing number of men who have chosen to get vasectomies in their early twenties. Since the childfree are still something of an [[Acceptable Target]], many doctors will outright refuse to perform them under the belief that the man will always change his mind. Men, who have to move hell and earth to convince the doctor otherwise, will often cite this in their reasons, amongst other medical, financial, and social reasons.
*** It's not easy for a woman who hasn't had children to convince a doctor to permanently sterilise her either. Many doctors are very insistent that ''everyone really wants babies'', even if they don't know it.
* There are times that some of the women on [[Maury]] seem this way.
** Although, instead of convincing the man to marry them, they usually seem to just want to extract child support out of them, since more than a few basically say they want nothing to do with him except for a check every month.
* The case of [[wikipedia:Dubay v. Wells|Dubay v. Wells]] was an attempt to remove the ability of the state to extort men who were taken advantage of. Unfortunately, the media portrayed it as men trying to abandon their children and/or leave some poor girl pregnant. This was not the case, and unfortunately, not only did it fail, but the court ruling directly stated that gender discrimination via the law was okay.
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[[Category:Dirty Social Tricks]]
[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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