False pregnancy False pregnancy False pregnancy, also known as phantom, hysterical pregnancy, pregnancy scares or pseudocyesis, is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy when the person is not actually pregnant. False pregnancy may sometimes be purely psychological. It is generally believed that false pregnancy is caused by changes in the endocrine system of the body, leading to the secretion of hormones that cause physical changes similar to those during pregnancy. Some men experience the same illnesses as a woman would experience while pregnant when their partner is pregnant (see Couvade syndrome), possibly caused by pheromones that
Pregnancy from rape intimate partner and 20% reported a rape-related pregnancy. Claims that rape reduces the chance of pregnancy have at times been made by referring to the fact that chronic stress can reduce a woman's fertility over a long term. However the current scientific consensus is that this is specific to long-term stress—the acute stress reaction that occurs during rape cannot "shut down ovulation that has already begun". In a 1972 article, physician and anti-abortion activist Fred Mecklenburg argued that pregnancy from rape is "extremely rare", adding that a woman exposed to the trauma of rape "will not ovulate even if she