When Pregnant with Pretense: How Some Women Try to Stop Their Guys from Breaking Up

It’s a difficult thing for any woman to endure—the dread of a potential breakup. When your guy tells you it’s over, it can feel like the end of the world. No one likes being alone, and the stages of it—heartache, despair, and loneliness—can be too much to bear.

That’s why some women will go to extreme lengths to keep their relationship intact. It’s incredible how many women have taken on the wild tactic of faking a pregnancy in order to save their relationship. The woman might have concocted a lie about an unplanned or accidental baby to suddenly appear out of nowhere, telling her partner that it was his, as an attempt to stop him from ending it all. But, unfortunately, this is often little more than a stunt of desperation, putting the relationship in deeper jeopardy down the road.

Oh, the lengths were women will go to make a relationship “work”—sometimes even at the cost of stealing a portion of their true selves away. It can be hard to stay true to yourself when the relationship is on the line, but keeping up the illusion of a faux pregnancy creates quite a conundrum. For example, if the female partner can’t actually produce a baby, then what will they do? How long can they keep up the charade before the consequences become dire?

Faking a pregnancy is thoughtless and reckless act that brings forth a slew of potential problems. First of all, it’s an outright lie. Telling someone there’s a baby on the way may cause them believe this person is devoted to them—causing them to stick around in the relationship. But that lie also puts a strain on the trust between the partners. Without trust, the relationship will be forever shrouded in darkness.

Adding to the complexity, if the woman does follow through with the pregnancy and have the baby, she is still not off the hook. Even if the man stays in the picture, he’s unlikely to forgive the woman for lying about something as important and the gravity of that deceit could put a huge stress on the relationship.

Finally, faking a pregnancy can be detrimental to the woman’s mental health. It’s an emotionally taxing act to constantly come up with stories and excuses while sustaining the façade of an unborn child. And all it takes is one slip, one hiccup in the story, for it all to unravel before her eyes.

It is neither appropriate nor healthy to fool someone about a pregnancy—especially the man who could potentially be the father. This is a manipulation tactic that always fails in the end. Women, if experiencing the fear of a potential break-up, should consider other avenues first. Talk to the person involved, strive for understanding and connection in order to resolve any discord. If these steps don’t bear fruit, sometimes the hard truth is best—that it’s probably time to move on.