FACT CHECK: Viral Post Claims A Woman Set A World Record By Having 17 Children In A Single Birth

Jonathan Fonti | Fact Check Reporter

A viral Facebook post claims a woman named Catherine Bridge set the world record for most babies delivered during a single birth by having 17 children.

Verdict: False

Nadya Suleman holds the Guinness World Record for most children delivered in a single birth. The images have been photoshopped or taken out of context. A satire website originally published the claim.

Fact Check:

The composite image has made the rounds on social media repeatedly over the past few years, with this particular post claiming Bridge gave birth to 17 children, setting the world record for “most babies in a single pregnancy.”

But a quick Google search revealed that Suleman, known as “Octomom,” holds the Guinness World Record for most children delivered at a single birth to survive. She set the record after giving birth to octuplets in 2009, according to the Guinness World Records website.

Images included in the post appear to be photoshopped or taken out of context, further adding to the post’s dubiousness. (RELATED: Hoax Claims A Woman Had 14 Children Fathered By 14 Different Men)

The upper-left picture is a doctored version of a pregnant woman’s selfie that can be found on the website DeviantArt, and the bottom picture appears to have been photoshopped to show the same baby in various positions around the room. Obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Biter posted the upper-right photo on his Facebook page in 2012.

The claim about the woman having 17 children in one labor actually originated on World News Daily Report, a parody news website that describes its content as “satirical” and “fictional.”

Jonathan Fonti

Fact Check Reporter
Follow Jonathan on Twitter Have a fact check suggestion? Send ideas to [email protected].

Trending