“April's Mom” Blog a Big Lie

Online blogger gets huge response to fake entries

A blog filled with emotion and love has sparked outrage on the Internet after followers found out that is was nothing but lies.

"April's Mom" blogged the details of a mother's story about giving birth to a child diagnosed as terminally ill in the womb.

Thousands of supporters and anti-abortion activists followed the story for months. They prayed for the baby. They made T-shirts and sent gifts.

But the story that drew nearly a million hits to her Web site was a lie.

But, Sunday night, after "April's Mom" claimed she gave birth to her miracle baby, only to watch the infant die hours later, followers noticed a problem.

It turns out the picture of "April" was actually a well-known doll.

"I have that exact doll in my house," said Elizabeth Russell, a doll maker from Buffalo who had been following the blog. "As soon as I saw that picture, I knew it was a scam."

The Chicago Tribune jumped on the story and identified "April's Mom" as 26-year-old Beccah Beushausen, a social worker from Mokena.

Beushausen said she really did lose a son shortly after birth in 2005, the Tribune said. She started her blog in March to help deal with that loss and to express her strong anti-abortion views, she said.

Beushausen has since deleted all her blogs, facebook and Twitter accounts.

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