Birth Tourism as Part of Medical Tourism

..don't just look at me you fools: TAKE ME TO THE USA STAT






Turkey is seeing more outbound health tourism in a special niche sector.

With more Turkish parents wanting their child to be born in the USA, tourism companies are starting to offer birth tourism packages to US cities. Many women say giving birth in the USA has benefits including cheaper education and fewer visa worries. Some Americans want to restrict the practice, citing fears of illegal migration.

12, 000 Turkish children have been born in the USA since 2003.The numbers are significant enough to draw the attention of tourism companies and inspire them to pursue birth tourism. The Turkish-owned Marmara Hotels group has a new birth tourism package that includes accommodation at their Manhattan hotel. Levent Baş of Gurib Tourism says, “We have been involved in medical tourism since 2002, but we were also receiving so many demands about this issue that we decided to sell birth packages. We first started our research in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando and we only contacted Turkish doctors. We are preparing a package that covers everything from the flight and city tours to accommodation for several months and hospital expenses.” The minimum cost is $25,000, which rises to $40,000 if the destination is New York.

Many women abroad wish to give birth in the USA, as according to the U.S.’s 14th Amendment, the country grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil. But right-wing politicians want to change the law. Republican Congressman Gary Miller is co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to abolish birthright citizenship for children born in the country to illegal immigrant parents,” They come to this country and have babies. The children are citizens. The children are eligible to go to school. They receive food stamps and social programmes. The American taxpayers are paying for it,"

While it can be controversial, birth tourism is legal in the U.S. and not just popular in Turkey but also in Asian countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Many South Korean parents-to-be have chosen to give birth in the U.S. for many reasons, ranging from a desire to enroll their children in American schools to enabling them to avoid South Korean military service.

The birthright citizenship formerly applied in other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia but both countries modified their law in the mid-1980s. India maintained a birthright law until 2004, but ended the right to prevent continued illegal immigration from neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh.