1 in 200 Women Say They've Had a 'Virgin Pregnancy'

[joeybee12]

An unbelievable-sounding new study finds that one in 200 young American women claims to have experienced a virgin pregnancy, à la the Virgin Mary.

The US researchers looked into a long-term, confidential study about reproductive health, and found that 45 of the 7,870 women involved said they had become pregnant without ever having had vaginal intercourse or going through in-vitro fertilization, AFP reports. Of those, 31% had made a "chastity pledge" of the type popular among Christian groups. The research was published in the British Medical Journal.

Milestones through PregnancyA lead author explains: The subjects "weren't asked a question 'Have you had a virgin pregnancy?'" Rather, the findings were "put together from a series of questions about pregnancy history and vaginal intercourse history." She adds that it's possible some of the women "did not want to admit that they had intercourse," or perhaps misunderstood the questions, seeing as the results are rather "unrealistic."

She adds: "We actually found a few virgin fathers as well-which is a little harder to get your head around." LiveScience points out that the study's real finding is the problems inherent in researching sensitive information: "Scientists may still face challenges when collecting self-reported data on sensitive topics," despite taking precautions.

http://shine.yahoo.com/love-sex/1-200-women-39-ve-had-39-virgin-194000952.html

[Berlum]

1. Proving once again in yet another way that men are really unnecessary

[BainsBane]

2. What is shows is that girls who take chastity pledges LIE

That is it.

This article about this study has more info. http://news.yahoo.com/39-virgin-births-39-reveal-problems-health-surveys-005455494.html?bcmt=comments-postbox

More than 30 percent of the women reporting apparent virgin births in this study had signed chastity pledges, compared with 15 percent of non-virgins who reported pregnancies and 20 percent of the other virgins.

The researchers also found that parents of women who reported virgin births were more likely to indicate lower levels of communication with their children about sex and birth control. The women, however, were not particularly more religious than the rest of the participants, according to the study published today (Dec. 17) in the medical journal BMJ.

Mystery solved.

[Scootaloo]

4. Well now, hold on...

There are at least some higher vertebrates that are capable of parthenogenesis - whiptail lizards, for example.

Who's to say that these women aren't a strange mutation of self-fertilizing female humans? I'm sure they'd be willing ot undergo a battery of tests and examinations. Imagine the medical breakthroughs this could lead to!

I mean sure they could be lying, and occam's razor says they probably are, but hey! Biology teaches us that nothing is impossible

[BainsBane]

7. Here is some more info

I justed added to my post from the other article

More than 30 percent of the women reporting apparent virgin births in this study had signed chastity pledges, compared with 15 percent of non-virgins who reported pregnancies and 20 percent of the other virgins.

The researchers also found that parents of women who reported virgin births were more likely to indicate lower levels of communication with their children about sex and birth control. The women, however, were not particularly more religious than the rest of the participants, according to the study published today (Dec. 17) in the medical journal BMJ.

Then there is the possibility that these kids just don't know how babies are made. Kids think they can do all kinds of stuff and not call it sex.

[Major Nikon]

3. This is what the lack of comprehensive sexual education does for you

I'm sure there's still no shortage of bumpkins who believe their daughters can get pregnant from sharing bathwater with their brothers.

[jberryhill]

6. That explains all the kids named "Jesus"

[pnwmom]

8. It's possible for someone to have sexual activity that ends short

of vaginal intercourse, but leaves the little swimmers too close to their target.

Or so says Dear Abby!

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-12-08/features/9312080141_1_organ-and-tissue-donor-heavy-petting-dear-abby

[xulamaude]

19. Thank you. nt

[Tx4obama]

23. Yes, it is possible. A doctor was talking about the same way on TV not long ago too. n/t

[regnaD kciN]

31. They always talked about it in "sex ed" classes in the late '60s-early '70s...

...to hammer home the point that, not only shouldn't you Do It before marriage, but you shouldn't Do "Everything But..." either, because you could get just as pregnant from only "heavy petting."

[ohheckyeah]

26. I had a friend who said that's

what happened to her. She had no reason to lie to me - when I met her she was married and had two children.

[pnwmom]

32. It's very unlikely but I'm sure it's possible. Pre-ejaculate also contains

a small amount of sperm,and that's where people tend to get careless.

[ohheckyeah]

34. According to her,

he ejaculated before penetration was accomplished. I guess it hit close enough to travel.....those little suckers are pretty mobile.

[Squinch]

9. I've had a lot of virgin olive oil. But no babies ever turned up in the salad.

[BlueJazz]

24. I live in Florida. All we have here is Gigolo/Whore Olive Oil.

[Squinch]

30. I only use that in Putanesca.

[madinmaryland]

10. I suppose all of those women have gone to Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN.

[Silent3]

11. It would be interesting if there were a slightly higher number of claims for female births

If spontaneous human parthenogenesis is possible, it would probably still be so very, very rare that not even one in 7870 women would have been likely to have experienced it.

That said, to the very limited extent that such births might remotely be possible, the offspring would have to female, being that no Y chromosome would be available.

It's not just cultural sexism that makes the birth of a male Jesus a better miracle story than the birth of a female savior would have been.

[Coyotl]

12. Come to think of it, Jesus must have been a female.

Either she had some serious gender bending issues and like 12 guys, or some patriarchal types changed the story on us.

[lpbk2713]

13. They see Chayssus in their toast too.

Then they sell it on Ebay.

[B Calm]

14. Cuckoos

[Tikki]

15. What is amazing are these mothers and daughters that look alike…almost like self-replicating clones.

MORE PHOTOS at link below...
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/relationships-and-special-occasions/parenting/meet-our-mother-daughter-look-alike-contest-winners/collection_75eecc8c-bb02-11e2-bd22-001a4bcf6878.html


Tikki

[FiveGoodMen]

16. We should be knee-deep in saviors in no time!

[ecstatic]

17. Is it possible that some of them were raped?

While unconscious?

[Aerows]

21. Or they already have mental health issues

and were victims of rape or incest. It doesn't surprise me that they would attempt to rationalize it in another way. Sad.

[fujiyama]

29. I'm more disturbed by that aspect

It's possible many of the responses were made just to fuck with the pollsters, but there is the possibility that many of these responses are basically trying to rationalize acts of sexual abuse.

[Aerows]

18. Doesn't it say something about society

when .5% of women would rather say they got pregnant via God than that they had sex with a man?

It says that .5% of women have mental health issues, the same rate as men do at fertile age. Schizophrenics regularly talk to God, see God and hear God. It isn't too hard to believe that some women would either choose to believe they got pregnant by God or by divine intervention rather than that they had sex.

I don't find this surprising at all. People with mental health issues ... having mental health issues that reflect that they have experiences that possibly contributed to further mental health issues (like rape and incest).

[whistler162]

20. Says more about the pollsters and the

gullible people who fund them!

[Aerows]

22. You could be right about that, too

whistler162.

[MrScorpio]

25. Suuure, they did!

I'm a believer.

[LeftyMom]

27. It is a well known fact that a certain percentage of survey respondents fuck with pollsters

and say the craziest thing possible. Also a certain percentage of people don't understand even well-designed questions, either because they're idiots or because there's a language barrier.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Bad jokes about watermelon and pumpkin seeds come to mind.

[Vashta Nerada]

33. What, did they sit on their boyfriend's "lucky sock"?

1 in 200 women are liars.

[Monk06]

35. Come on !! It was the toilet seat. It's always the toilet seat's fault !!!

[alp227]

36. The legacy of abstinence-only education and the Christian Right.

But hey, creationism and homophobia still thrive in large swaths of Amurka huh?

Read my rant about that : http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024197860

[pnwmom]

37. Mystery solved. They didn't have vaginal intercourse

and they didn't do in-vitro fertilization, which is fertilization outside the body.

Come on, people! They used a turkey baster . . . or equivalent.