'April's Mom' Hoax Played on Faith | LiveScience:
A pregnant young woman spent months blogging about her compelling personal journey of anguish. You see, her unborn child (named April, after the month she was due), had a rare and fatal birth defect. Tiny April's brain would not form properly, and doctors said she would likely die before birth or shortly thereafter. Still, the plucky and courageous "April's Mom" was determined to bring the child in accord with her beliefs.
At first the blog drew only a trickle of readers, but soon the word spread and tens of thousands of people visited the site to read her latest blog, detailing doctor's visits and her friends' wonderful support. Mothers of sick and dying children sent prayers and gifts, offering encouragement and sympathy.
Last Sunday when April was finally born (several weeks late), she tragically died within hours. What few suspected was that it was all a lie; April did not exist. She was the fictional creation of her "mother," Becca Bueshausen.
Every detail of April's life and death had been made up; all the tears that had been shed, all the prayers that had been sent, were for a tiny child that never existed. When the lie was exposed, the blog's readers reacted with outrage, feeling betrayed and suckered. Bueshausen offered an apology on her blog and has been laying low since then.
[...]
Most such hoaxes are done for attention, money, and sympathy. In some cases, however, there's a political angle as well. In this case, Beushausen was promoting her Christian beliefs and anti-abortion agenda. She described at length and in detail the hard choices she struggled with, and anti-abortion readers praised her for standing by her strong Christian values.
The "April's Mom" blog was as much about religion as it was about pregnancy.
And if it is a religion that the only way to get supporters around is to lie, it is no religion anybody should want to be a part of.
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