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A snapshot left at a so-called maternity house in California. + d$ h' Z9 r- c; F: B; O f: O- x 1 K8 A, C! l( l0 d+ _1 N! q1 I+ F& o8 y
The front of one of the town houses. Officials said they could not determine exactly how many women had been there. * z8 B6 \( C6 _6 Y" @5 l, G
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A room inside a so-called "maternity tourism" house in California.) T" ] L% B7 m$ u8 A2 s
8 |& |1 R6 {5 u o0 y$ t% i ! k1 c) A1 ]% g& x0 o- r( c0 S# ?Arriving as Pregnant Tourists, Leaving With American Babies # j9 b+ C4 \" ^* \" h* X2 \# J( ^8 }
SAN GABRIEL, Calif. — The building inspectors and police officers walked into the small row of connected town houses here knowing something was amiss. Neighbors had complained about noise and a lot of pregnant women coming and going. And when they went into a kitchen they saw a row of clear bassinets holding several infants, with a woman acting as a nurse hovering over them.3 F7 R& m( |0 U9 [
* i2 J5 y' b7 t, K1 J. rFor months, officials say, the house was home to “maternity tourists,” in this case, women from China who had paid tens of thousands of dollars to deliver their babies in the United States, making the infants automatic American citizens. Officials shut down the home, sending the 10 mothers who had been living there with their babies to nearby motels. 0 ]4 y& e8 F% F6 B7 v* u# M 1 k& {; U" z8 @/ X ?2 ^. [“These were not women living in squalor — it was a well taken care of place and clean, but there were a lot of women and babies,” said Clayton Anderson, a city inspector who shut down the house on March 9. “I have never seen anything like this before. We really couldn’t determine the exact number of people living there.”$ {/ j& P7 s4 \% ?2 h
' q- {" d; H h# t# PFor the last year, the debate over birthright citizenship has raged across the country, with some political leaders calling for an end to the 14th Amendment, which gives automatic citizenship to any baby born in the United States. Much of the debate has focused on immigrants entering illegally from poor countries in Latin America. But in this case the women were not only relatively wealthy, but also here legally on tourist visas. Most of them, officials say, have already returned to China with their American babies. # H, J/ ?7 j" D6 _/ @/ l t+ k: W# w8 A. z4 R
Immigration experts say it is impossible to know precisely how widespread “maternity tourism” is. Businesses in China, Mexico and South Korea advertise packages that arrange for doctors, insurance and postpartum care. And the Marmara, a Turkish-owned hotel on the Upper East Side in New York City, has advertised monthlong “baby stays” that come with a stroller.# |8 Q6 z/ I5 V0 L7 k* M; z- I
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For the most part, though, the practice has involved individuals. The discovery of the large-scale facility here in the San Gabriel foothills raises questions about whether it was a rare phenomenon or an indication that maternity tourism is entering a new, more institutionalized phase with more hospital-like facilities operating quietly around the country. 1 ~- X# ~ ~1 U8 Y : t/ M3 R/ O: IThe San Gabriel town houses are nestled in a small street lined with modest houses, small apartment buildings and palm trees. A construction crew was at work late last week, closing up walls that had been knocked down between units, in violation of the housing code.作者: 陶天 时间: 2011-3-30 09:25
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