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Why are so many people selling positive pregnancy tests on Craigslist?

Is there an underground network of pregnancy test pushers?

 

Audra Schroeder

IRL

Posted on Aug 29, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 7:50 am CDT

Troubling new trend alert: In the last few months, there’s been a preponderance of Craigslist ads selling positive pregnancy tests. In May, a woman in Buffalo offered hers for $25, apparently as a response to heightened demand:

Then another seller in New Jersey decided to follow suit and offered $25 for her pregnancy test, in case you wanted to “get your boyfriend to finally pop the question” :

Even more troubling, the sellers assure they won’t ask questions and don’t care what the tests are being used for. However, there aren’t very many uses for a positive pregnancy test, outside of confirming a woman is pregnant. Unless you want to make, say, a dreamcatcher.

Could it be these tests are used for more nefarious purposes? Yes, that’s definitely the reason. Take this seller from Dallas:

This ad from Conroe, Texas, which has been branded by the website MediaTakeOut, echoes the previous ads and even hints at a possible ratchet network of women seeking positive tests. Or rather, “help.”

The ads continue to appear across the country, all with the same no-questions-asked, I’m-always-by-my-phone language. Might there also be a market for negative pregnancy tests? Sort of torn on this issue. I’m all for women with a business plan, and the concept of a ratchet network intrigues me, but this might be taking the idea of “lean in” a little too far.

Photo via Johannes Jander/Flickr

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*First Published: Aug 29, 2013, 3:11 pm CDT