Record pregnancy is a hoax: Tunisia

A Tunisian woman, recently reported to be due to give birth to a record-breaking 12 babies, has gone into hiding after being exposed as a fraud. The North African teacher, from Gafsa, had claimed that she was expecting six boys and six girls this month after having fertility treatment.

An investigation by the country’s health ministry has revealed that the 34-year-old woman, known only as AF, has “psychological problems and is unlikely even to be pregnant”.

“Our staff interviewed her at length, but even her pregnancy appears to be in her imagination,” the Telegraph quoted a spokesman in Tunis, the capital, as saying.

Medical experts had previously cast a shadow of doubt over the extraordinary feat, saying if the 12 babies, called duodecaplets, were all born alive, that would be a miracle.

Peter Bowen-Simpkins, a fellow of the Royal College of Gynaecologists, said, “How could you get 12 babies into the womb at the same time? The womb doesn’t expand that much. She would have to be about seven feet tall.”