An altered photo shared as the picture of a new pregnancy test cassette showing the picture of the father - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 26, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that the new home pregnancy test can show the picture of the father. The photo shows a positive pregnancy result and a man’s picture displayed on a pregnancy test cassette. A few users shared the same photo and claim that with the application of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, the new pregnancy tests can now show the picture of the father on it. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a Pregnancy test cassette showing the picture of the father.
Fact: The image shared in the post is an altered one. The original image published in 2012 does not show the picture of a man on the pregnancy test cassette. A non-invasive prenatal paternity test could determine the biological father of an unborn child. The DNA profile of the baby is determined from free-floating blood cells found in the mother’s blood sample and then compared to the DNA profile of the potential father to check whether or not he is the biological father of the child. But neither non-invasive prenatal paternity tests nor the home pregnancy test kits could show the picture of the father on them. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found published on the ‘depositphotos’ website in May 2012. The description of the photo states, “Woman taking a pregnancy test showing pregnant result”.  But the original image does not show the man’s picture on the pregnancy test cassette. Similar altered images showing different persons’ pictures on pregnancy test cassettes were shared in the past.
The most advanced home pregnancy test kits use antibodies to detect the levels of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that develops in a person’s body only during pregnancy, in urine and could provide reliable results within just a few weeks of pregnancy. The hormone hCG is produced very early in pregnancy by trophoblast cells and after implantation, the placenta begins to develop and produce increasing amounts of hCG. The home pregnancy tests cannot be used for paternity testing and there is no such pregnancy test cassette that could show the picture of the father on it.
A Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test can determine the biological father of an unborn child by testing the DNA profiles of the potential father and the baby. While the mother is pregnant, the DNA profile of the baby is determined from free-floating cells found in the mother’s blood sample and then compared to the DNA profile of the father to determine whether or not he is the biological father of the baby. For a non-invasive prenatal paternity test, the mother’s blood sample and the potential father’s cheek swab will be collected for the testing. This DNA test can be performed as early as the 7 week of the pregnancy. The testing methods of non-invasive prenatal paternity test and pregnancy test are completely different and even non-invasive prenatal paternity test does not display a picture of the father on the kit.
To sum it up, an altered photo was shared as the picture of a new pregnancy test cassette showing the picture of the father.