Birthing Center for Chinese 'Maternity Tourists' Is Shut Down in California
Authorities have shut down a birthing center in California for Chinese “maternity tourists” who wanted their babies born in the United States.
The women paid tens of thousands of dollars to have their babies delivered in a row of connected townhouses on a quiet street lined with palm trees in San Gabriel, the New York Times reports. The story explains the possible incentive: After the babies born here turn 21, they could petition for permanent residence status for their parents.
The discovery of the facility raises questions about whether maternity tourism has entered “a new, more institutionalized phase,” the Times says.
Southern California has become a hub for birth tourism, the Los Angeles Times reports. And the Chinese aren’t the only foreigners targeted, according to the New York Times. Advertisements in Mexico and South Korea tout packages for maternity tourists. One Turkish-owned hotel in New York City includes a stroller with its monthlong “baby stays.”
About 10 women discovered at the California birthing center have gone to U.S. motels or have returned home with their babies. The property owner has been cited for illegal construction.
Controversy over so-called birthing tourism has led to calls for repeal of the 14th Amendment that gives automatic citizenship to children born here, even to illegal immigrants.
Updated April 1 to correctly state that after babies born here turn 21, they can petition for permanent residence status for their parents.
