The Never-Ending Pregnancy of Kaitlyn Braun

Her story was unthinkably tragic: a frightened young woman with minimal support and in dire need of help, about to give birth to a rapist's baby. Now, she faces 52 criminal charges for making it all up-and traumatizing at least 17 doulas with a continuous chain of gruesome labor-and-delivery hoaxes. In their first major magazine interviews, five of Kaitlyn's accusers describe how they fell under her chilling, persuasive power.

- SARAH TRELEAVEN

In a Tik Tok video uploaded this March, an Ontario doula-let's call her Ashley-stares intently at the camera. She has a warning for her fellow birth workers: A serial pregnancy faker is on the loose, pulling unsuspecting doulas into a string of ever-changing nightmarish scenarios. Without naming names, Ashley imparts her message: "This person was not and has not ever been pregnant." The community had to protect itself.

The post quickly went viral as others stitched videos corroborating Ashley's claims. A troubling pattern soon emerged, as did the identity of the accused: Kaitlyn Braun, a 24-year-old social worker from Brantford, Ontario, who had reportedly been DMing doulas on Instagram with myriad versions of a shattering scenario. In many cases, the details mirrored the lived experiences of the doulas themselves, and all shared a common plot: Seemingly scared and in crisis, Kaitlyn needed them to help her through a traumatic ordeal. Some doulas had already called the police, but Kaitlyn was still out there roping people in-over and over again.

By the time Kaitlyn Braun was arrested on March 13 and charged with multiple counts of fraud, criminal harassment, false pretenses, indecent acts, and sexual assault, she had allegedly enlisted dozens of doulas, feeding off their compassion and manipulating their professional code. Unlike ob-gyns or midwives, who are medical providers, doulas are devoted to providing comfort, advocacy, and education to clients throughout the birth process, both virtually and in person. It appeared that Kaitlyn had found a perfect target: people whose entire job is to believe women-to address their pain instead of dismissing it, to hear them, help them, and support their choices no matter what.