History Main / PregnantHostage

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': In "Cops and Robbers" one of the bank tellers in the bank that Castle and his mother are unlucky enough to be in when it gets held up is pregnant. She doesn't go into labor or have any kind of risky pregnancy from what we see, however. [[spoiler:Castle does use her pregnancy as an excuse to go to a couch by the windows, however, ostensibly to get her pillows to sit up on but actually because he has a message he wants to get to the cops outside.]]

* Happens twice in the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fanfic ''FanFic/MaternalInstinct''.
* ''FanFic/MyBrideIsAMermaidWeddingBells'': Tiger Shark Tony kidnaps a pregnant Sun as part of a plan to get revenge on Gozaburo.

* Poor, poor 15-year-old [[DarkChick Diana Ladris]] from ''[[Literature/{{GONE}} FEAR]]''. No one bothers trying to bail her out (or rather, they couldn't if they tried), either. And she's left to give birth in a scorching hot, pitch-black mine with two psychopaths [[NightmareFuel who like to torture her]]. Fans of the character were reasonably miffed.

It seems to be a law of TV and film land, that any hostage situation will include at least one [[ObviousPregnancy heavily pregnant woman]]. This can either be used to show how inhuman the hostage-takers are by having them [[KickTheDog use her as greater leverage]] or to show them in a better light by [[PetTheDog having them treat her with compassion]]. If she's more than eight months, she'll probably go into labor, and give birth to a healthy baby with the help of a nearby know-it-all kid, [[ChekhovsHobby med-school dropout]] or, if they're really lucky, an off-duty nurse. Or maybe even [[DeliveryGuy one of the hostage takers]]. The PanickyExpectantFather will rarely be held hostage with her, and may even be with the police, constantly telling them, "My wife's in there!".

* A particularly nasty version happens in ''Manga/AirGear'', where [[spoiler: the kidnapper of the PregnantBadass Rika Noyamano is ''her ex-boyfriend and the baby's father'', Sora Takeuchi, who goes as far as ''brainwashing'' poor Rika to force her to fight the protagonists.]]

* In the third leg of the Arcos Special of ''Fanfic/SaviorOfDemons'', the fact that [[NominalImportance the female Arcosian held in the prisoner ship isn't named in the story]] should be a red flag to [[{{Tearjerker}} her]] [[KickTheDog fate.]] The whole scene plays out, for both the readers and [[spoiler: [[BreakTheCutie Frieza]]]] as NightmareFuel and NauseaFuel [[{{Squick}} combined.]]
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26119906/chapters/63537721 Stay Tuned]]'', a pregnant [[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime Ratchet]] is kidnapped by Rumble, Skywarp and Thundercracker so that they can force Optimus to comply with their demands.

** Mostly because [[spoiler: he's planning on killing them all anyway, and just needs to keep them docile until then]].

* In ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} Camber of Culdi]]'', one of the [[DisproportionateRetribution fifty human hostages taken after a Deryni lord is murdered]] is a pregnant woman. Cathan [=MacRorie=] pleads for their release and is offered the chance to take one of them; he first chooses the pregnant woman, only to be asked if he wants her or her baby. Cathan tries to argue, then chooses to take a teenaged boy instead. [[spoiler: The woman gives birth in captivity and is later hanged like the rest of the hostages.]]
* Done somewhat differently in Literature/{{Discworld}}, in [[spoiler: ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', when the diplomatic carriage carrying the Ankh Morpork delegation to Bonk is ambushed by bandits in the pass. Sybil is briefly held hostage as a bargaining chip, but at this point, Sam Vimes has no idea that Sybil is pregnant, and frankly, Sybil is a bit of a {{Pregnant Badass}} about it, keeping her calm and ducking so her husband can shoot the bandit holding her, with a weapon she doesn't even know he has. She's actually trying (not for the first time) to get his attention long enough to gently break the news to him just before the ambush.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': In "Cops and Robbers" one of the bank tellers in the bank that Castle and his mother are unlucky enough to be in when it gets held up is pregnant. She doesn't go into labor or have any kind of risky pregnancy from what we see, however. [[spoiler: Castle does use her pregnancy as an excuse to go to a couch by the windows, however, ostensibly to get her pillows to sit up on but actually because he has a message he wants to get to the cops outside.]]

* In the TV MovieOfTheWeek ''"[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_View_Hospital_hostage_incident Deliver Them From Evil: The Taking Of Alta View]]"'' (BasedOnATrueStory) has a man taking a maternity ward hostage (seeking vengeance against a doctor). Mercifully, only one patient is present, though she does fit the trope.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Riptide|1984}}'' (1984-1986), a young woman is kidnapped for ransom just after she learns that she's pregnant.[[spoiler: The kidnapper is the father of her unborn child.]]

* [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]] in ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}''. When [[spoiler:Layton decides to steal the engine and depart on the Pirate Train, Zarah]] chooses to stay behind on the main train depsite [[spoiler: Wilford's presence]] to have all the medical care she and the baby need, counting on the leverage that a pregnancy gives aboard Snowpiercer to ensure her own safety from [[spoiler: Wilford]]. It is [[spoiler:Layton who [[IHaveYourWife takes Miss Audrey hostage]] to make sure Wilford won't harm Zarah or any other passenger]]. However, when [[spoiler:the Pirate Train comes back and attacks the Great Ark Train, Wilford does summon Zarah to Big Alice's engine car as a deterrent against Layton attacking him directly. [[HositedByHisOwnPetard And it backfires]]!]]

* "Children's Story" by Slick Rick details how the delinquent young man on the run from the law "grabbed a pregnant lady and pulled out the automatic". [[spoiler: He lets her go unharmed, however, because he felt guilty.]]

* Used hilariously in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD1X0hha68k ''Hostage'']], Creator/ZacharyQuinto, turns a hostage woman into a lifetime relationship, even through multiple pregnancies, and an affair.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_View_Hospital_hostage_incident Alta View incident]], in which a vengeful man took a maternity ward hostage. Fortunately, there was only one patient present, and even more luckily, she wasn't harmed.

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', Jackal gives Lucy a SadisticChoice over whose life she should save -- an old councilor she's been assigned to bodyguard or a pregnant bystander -- or else both will die. The panicking councilor rants that of course his own life is more important since killing him ''might'' [[BarrierMaiden trigger a dangerous superweapon]]. Thankfully, Natsu manages to save both hostages (and giving the councilor a well-deserved clobbering for good measure).

** One was a 12-year-old girl with religiously- inspired StockholmSyndrome...that is, until the week's CultColony CloudCuckooLander BigBad [[spoiler:says a BlasphemousBoast that earns him a couple of pistol slugs straight to Hell]].