History Main / TheBabyTrap

A woman (commonly, a teenage girl) deliberately gets pregnant by lying about or sabotaging birth control in order to bind her current boyfriend to her, possibly because of a belief that BabiesMakeEverythingBetter somehow.

Can lead to a ShotgunWedding, or a VerySpecialEpisode about abortion or adoption, but more often, HilarityEnsues or drama ensues, depending on what sort of show it is. Rarely if ever is it pointed out that it's a form of spousal abuse.

Unfortunately for the child involved, this is TruthInTelevision. It's generally referred to as "oopsing" someone, ie "oops, I'm pregnant!" (and likely to be followed by a ClusterFBomb, PrecisionFStrike or an AtomicFBomb).

Unfortunately for the child involved, this is TruthInTelevision. It's generally referred to as "oopsing" someone, ie "oops, I'm/you're pregnant!" (and likely to be followed by a ClusterFBomb, PrecisionFStrike or an AtomicFBomb). In fact, it's quite common for abusive men to steal, sabotage or forbid their partners' birth control, since a child makes it that much more difficult for their victim to leave.

* In ''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 with Shatterstar.

* Kicks off the ''StarshipTroopers'' series of books. The possibly UnreliableNarrator immediately notes both the difficulty of accidentally becoming pregnant (this is set in the distant future) and the easy availability of DNA testing, as well as that he's apparently a virgin... but also notes the woman in question is the spoiled scion of a high-society family which effectively owns the government and courts, and that he could just be the one male she knows who can be shanghaied into a marriage.

* In ''X-Factor'', Rahne, who grew up very Protestant and is now 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 with Shatterstar.

This can lead to a ShotgunWedding, or a VerySpecialEpisode about abortion or adoption, but more often, HilarityEnsues or drama ensues, depending on what sort of show it is. Rarely if ever is it pointed out that it's a form of spousal abuse.

* Unfortunately for the child involved, this is TruthInTelevision. It's generally referred to as "oopsing" someone, ie "oops, I'm/you're pregnant!"
** Likely followed by a ClusterFBomb, PrecisionFStrike or an AtomicFBomb.

* It's actually quite common for abusive men to steal, sabotage or forbid their partners' birth control, since a child makes it that much more difficult for their victim to leave.

* In 'X-Factor', Rahne, who grew up very Protestant and is now 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 with Shatterstar.

* It's been {{Retcon}}ned that {{Spawn}}'s widow Wanda purposely stopped taking her birth control pills in hopes that a baby would change Al. [[MoralDissonance He ends up punching her in the stomach]], killing the baby as well as all speculation that Cyan is his daughter.

** That counts as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in my book.
** I dunno, the guy's a bit of a [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic asshole.]]
*** She completely deserves it. Realize that first, she cheated. Forgetting the baby for a second, what she was doing could count as fraud and extortion. Yes, he rubbed it in a little, but he basically found undeniable proof and he caught her in a lie.
**** Assuming that it actually happened, and it's not just some misogynistic asshole sharing his bitter fantasies with the internet.

* Done many, many, many times. The most obvious recent one is Kane doing this to Lita, though he was as much trying to gain an heir for himself as to keep her around. Terri Runnels and Stephanie McMahon (kayfabe) each faked a pregnancy to try and trap Triple H and Meat, respectively. It didn't really end well for any of these examples.

*** She completely deserves it.

* In the movie ''DropDeadFred'', the reason Lizzie's mother was so cruel to her was because she used this trick to try and save her marriage. When it didn't work, she placed the blame squarely on her daughter's shoulders.

* Kicks off the ''StarshipTroupers'' series of books. The possibly UnreliableNarrator immediately notes both the difficulty of accidentally becoming pregnant (this is set in the distant future) and the easy availability of DNA testing, as well as that he's apparently a virgin... but also notes the woman in question is the spoiled scion of a high-society family which effectively owns the government and courts, and that he could just be the one male she knows who can be shanghaied into a marriage.

* In HowIMetYourMother season 2, Lily considered doing this to prevent Marshall from falling for Chloe. The alternative is called "Chloe's accident".

* In {{Gavin And Stacey}}, Gavin discovers that Stacey stopped taking the pill just after they married – and not when they agreed to try for a baby, around a year later. (Not to hang on to him, but to force the issue of them moving out of his parents’ home and into a place of their own.) Although he’s eager to become a father by this point, he’s still briefly upset and angry that she tried to get pregnant without first discussing it with him.

* In {{Gavin And Stacey}}, Gavin discovers that Stacey stopped taking the pill just after they married – and not when they agreed to try for a baby, around a year later. (Not to hang on to him, but to force the issue of them moving out of his parents’ home and into a place of their own.) Although he’s eager to become a father by this point, he’s still briefly upset and angry that she tried to get pregnant before discussing it with him.

** Another weird example: in the movie ''AHomeAtTheEndOfTheWorld'' a homosexual man, Johnathan, is attempting to get his best friend, a straight woman named Clare, pregnant so they can both raise the baby together. When Johnathan's old boyfriend Bobby enters their life and also begins a sexual relationship with Clare, it obviously creates huge discourse within the trio. When Johnathan has finally had enough a threatens to leave them both, Clare reveals that she's pregnant, [[spoiler: although she doesn't mention who the father is]]. This causes both Bobby and Johnathan to put aside their differences and they all raise the baby together as a family unit.

In the past, she might even have tried it with a child from another man, conceived around the appropriate time. However, [[ScienceMarchesOn the rise of DNA testing]] has rendered this particular variant a DiscreditedTrope.

The version where the male does the same thing is [[DoubleStandard much rarer in fiction]] despite being just as common in RealLife.

** [[OrSoIHeard Apparently]], the original release also has the husband being seduced by a guy. This was left out of the American release, for [[ValuesDissonance obvious reasons]].