Woman deceives husband into rearing "his" child, and then accuses him of child abuse.

Cameo wrote: »

This kind of thing is all too common? Jeez, thankfully I don't know anyone like that.

What an absolute poisonous weapon.

Agreed and I do know of a couple of rare cases where this sorta thing has occurred, but I would be very wary of thinking it common. It is a common fear of men and one that has a very deep history that crosses many if not most cultural lines. For good reasons. Until the 20th century the plain fact is a man was never entirely sure if his children were his, a woman was always sure(beyond baby swapped in the hospital scenarios) and her choice in most cases. When that choice is taken from women, such as in the case of rape, society abhors it. To the degree even some pro life types will make an exception for termination in rape cases. One can add in the mystery of reproduction in women(and men) in pre modern cultures as another pressure causing this fear. Given our basic human "programming" pushes us to reproduce our genes, any suspicion involved in the process is naturally going to cause concern. Many cultural mores spring from this. The idea that a promiscuous woman is somehow lesser being one obvious example. She may be seen as more "risky" as far as the origin of children she may have. Virginal women being seen as less "risky". That being chaste and all that stuff is much more a pressure on women than men is down to this basic male fear of a cuckoo in the nest. I would even contend that the oft found male suspicion and thinking of women as somehow "other" and mysterious springs from this. Reliable contraception and paternity testing and changing societal attitudes have rendered the reality of the fear far less an issue, but it takes time for our brains to catch up.

So yeah, I would say the fear of this is far more a thing than the reality. Much more common in my experience is "accidental" pregnancy.