Claim: A viral photo of a pregnant teenager said to be 12 years old has recently been circulating on social media. The claim posted by Journalist Thomas Kojo Roulhac stated that the girl, through cesarean, gave birth to a five-pound baby at the Goodwill Clinic in Bong County.
Verdict: False ! The claimant didn’t provide evidence to his post. Also, our fact-check using Reverse Image Search proves that the image was first posted on August 5, 2019 by Motherhood Instyle Magazine stating that the 12-year old orphan was abandoned at a hospital in Nigeria when she had gone to give birth.
Full Text
An image of a girl said to be pregnant has gone viral on Facebook. The reports suggest she gave birth in central Liberia (Bong County). The image posted by Thomas Kojo Roulhac of Freedom Radio also alleged the teenager was 10-years-old.
According to the claimant, the girl delivered a baby weighing 5 pounds by cesarean operation.
“A 10-year-old girl on Sunday, March 17, 2024 gave birth in Bong County, making her one of the youngest mothers ever in the world.
The unnamed Kpelleh girl arrived at the Goodwill hospital in tears and “enormous pain” from the contractions, according to a journalist’s account.
She reportedly delivered her baby, who weighed 5 pounds, by cesarean section.
Experts say a C-section delivery for such a young mother is not unusual” The poster said.
The post was reposted by other media Institutions and bloggers. This sparked a bit of suspicion and controversy amongst the public. This led DUBAWA to initiate a fact-check.
Verification
To verify this claim, DUBAWA first contacted the claimant to provide detailed information on the post. But he did not provide further information on the report, neither could he provide evidence to support the claim.
Also, the claimant immediately took down the picture on the post after DUBAWA contacted him to substantiate his claims.
DUBAWA’s additional verification via google reverse image search revealed that the image was first posted on August 5, 2019, by a feminist magazine called the Motherhood Instyle Magazine in Nigeria. The Magazine reported that the girl was a 12-year old orphan and a rape victim who was abandoned at a hospital during labour in Benue State.
“The child named Masenengen Targba was dumped at the General Hospital, Makurdi located by an unknown person in the early hours of Sunday, August 4, 2019,” the Magazine said.
Again, our verification found out that this particular image has been used multiple times on social media and magazines by claimants.
Conclusion
Based on our findings, no 12 year-old girl gave birth in Bong County.
