A Facebook post about Joy-Anna Duggar’s pregnancy has raised a few eyebrows. The Duggars merely wanted to let fans know that the 20-year-old Counting On star hasn’t given birth yet, but their choice of words sparked a discussion about the family’s belief that life begins at conception.
On Tuesday, the Duggar family took to Facebook to give fans a mini-update on Joy-Anna Duggar’s pregnancy . They shared a photo of a dressed-up Joy-Anna cradling her baby bump and standing beside her husband, 24-year-old Austin Forsyth. The couple recently revealed that Joy-Anna’s due date is February 22, so Duggar devotees weren’t surprised to learn that the pair hasn’t yet welcomed their first child to the world. However, a few of the couple’s fans were surprised by the language that the Duggar family used to inform their Facebook followers that Joy-Anna is still pregnant.
“Joy and Austin will soon be parents! Anybody have a guess when baby will be here?” their post read. “When it comes to arrival, these babies make up their own minds!”
One fan noted that the wording of the Facebook post makes it seem as though the Duggars don’t already view Joy-Anna and Austin as parents, even though the couple will get to hold their newborn baby in their arms any day now.
“They are already parents!” the critic of their word choice remarked. “They’ve been parents since conception, because that’s when life begins! (Just like to point that out, because life-affirming language is super important – and I know your family agrees on the sanctity of life!) God bless!”
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Other fans noted that this is not the first time the Duggar family’s words have been at odds with their stance that life begins at conception. As reported by the Hollywood Gossip , Michelle Duggar has referred to her daughter that was stillborn, Jubilee Duggar, as her 20th child . However, the former 19 Kids and Counting star suffered a life-altering miscarriage many years before the loss of Jubilee. One Facebook commenter pointed out that the Duggar family matriarch often forgets to count Caleb Duggar as one of her children.
“Michelle had a miscarriage (Caleb) after she had Josh. If life starts at conception then why did they constantly say they are parents of 19? Doesn’t Caleb count? And then when she miscarried Jubilee they called her then 20th child once again forgetting about Caleb.”
Michelle Duggar’s glaring omission of her second pregnancy was previously pointed out by fans when she posted a Facebook tribute to Jubilee on the sixth anniversary of her stillbirth. The Duggars have not done something similar to commemorate Caleb.
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The language that the Duggars use when discussing miscarriages, stillbirths, fetuses, embryos, and fertilized eggs is important to their fans because the conservative Christians are considered leaders of the pro-life movement. The Duggars often attend anti-abortion marches, and Joy-Anna has used her pregnancy to spread anti-abortion memes on Instagram. She’s even shared a photo of Austin Forsyth standing on the side of the road and holding a sign that reads, “Abortion kills children.”
When Joy-Anna first broke her big baby news, she did not slip up and make the same mistake that her family did in their recent Facebook post. She and Austin Forsyth stayed true to their pro-life views by referring to themselves as parents from the start.
“Austin and I are SO thankful to announce that we are parents!!” read the Counting On couple’s August 30 pregnancy announcement . “Even before we were married we prayed that God would give us children and we are so blessed that he has given us this baby!”
