Abstract
Introduction
The 14th amendment of the United States (US) Constitution guarantees citizenship to infants born in the US. With documentation of citizenship, typically through a birth certificate, neonates gain official identity and the opportunity to qualify for services like healthcare. Most guidance on caring for immigrant children assumes that access to health care is guaranteed for babies born in the US. In practice, some infants born to non-citizen mothers face barriers in obtaining services fundamental to neonatal health.
Methods
We conducted a review of the literature to identify articles on access to care for infants born to non-citizen mothers in the US. Because of the scarcity of relevant peer-reviewed published literature on this topic, the search was broadened to grey literature including news articles, online articles, and legal reviews. Using these aggregated sources, we created a framework for understanding maternal immigration status and barriers to healthcare for neonates born in the US. We discuss risk factors from the public health, historical and ethical perspectives.
Results
Barriers exist for some mother-infant dyads in obtaining services such as healthcare, health insurance and supplemental nutrition programs. At-risk dyads include neonates of undocumented immigrants and birth tourists as well as neonates born to women on visas. The impact of these barriers on health-seeking behaviors, access to care, and health outcomes for these neonates is largely unknown.
Discussion
The framework for understanding challenges of non-citizen mothers and their infants that we present in this article provides a resource for physicians and public health professionals serving this population. That much of the literature exists outside of healthcare highlights the need for more scholarly work on this problem. Future research will better inform advocacy and public health efforts to protect this vulnerable population of newborn citizens and their mothers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abubakar, I., Aldridge, R. W., Devakumar, D., et al. (2018). The UCL–lancet commission on migration and health: The health of a world on the move. Lancet., 392(10164), 2606–2654.
Chodorow, G. (2012). Shady Chinese Agencies Promoting U.S. Birth Tourism--Part 1: Undercover Investigation. From Chodorow Law Offices website: https://lawandborder.com/undercover-investigation-into-shady-chinese-agencies-promoting-u-s-birth-tourism/. Accessed 9 Jan 2019.
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d et seq. (1964)
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine. Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. U Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1). https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8.
Culliton-Gonzalez, K. (2012). Born in the Americas: Birthright Citizenship and Human Rights. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 25(56).
Grant, T. (2015). Made in America: Medical tourism and birth tourism leading to a larger base of transient citizenship. Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, 22, 159–178.
Human Rights Council. (2014). Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (No. 1405391; pp. 1–19). https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A_HRC_27_22_ENG.doc. Accessed 14 Feb 2019.
Jaramillo, J., Goyal, D., & Lung, C. (2019). Birth tourism among Chinese women. Am J Matern Child Nurs., 44(2), 94–99.
Ji, Y., & Bates, B. R. (2018). “Better Than Bank Robbery”: yuezi centers and neoliberal appeals to market birth tourism to pregnant chinese women. Health Communication, 33(4), 443–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1278494
Jordan, M. (2019). Arrested in Crackdown on Multimillion-Dollar 'Birth Tourism' Businesses. NYTimes. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/anchor-baby-birth-tourism.html. Acceseed 31 Jan 2019.
Lee, H. C., Bardach, N. S., Maselli, J. H., & Gonzales, R. (2014). Emergency department visits in the neonatal period in the United States. Pediatric Emergency Care, 30(5), 315–318. https://doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0000000000000120
Linton, J.M., Green, A., & Council on Community Pediatrics. (2019). Providing Care for Children in Immigrant Families. Pediatrics. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2019/08/15/peds.2019-2077.
Lopez, A. (2019, January 26). Parents Hoping For A Green Card Fear Signing Up Kids For Health Services: Shots - Health News : NPR. In Weekend Edition. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/26/686325494/fear-of-deportation-or-green-card-denial-deters-some-parents-from-getting-kids-c. Accessed 2 June 2019.
Lu, M. C., Lin, Y. G., Prietto, N. M., & Garite, T. J. (2000). Elimination of public funding of prenatal care for undocumented immigrants in California: A cost/benefit analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 182(1 Pt 1), 233–239.
Mikhael, M., Cleary, J. P., Dhar, V., Chen, Y., Nguyen, D. V., & Chang, A. C. (2016). Birth Tourism and neonatal intensive care: A children’s hospital experience. American Journal of Perinatology, 33(14), 1415–1419. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0036-1584139
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). (1994). Model State Vital Statistics Act and Regulations, 1992 Revision. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/misc/mvsact92b.pdf.
Ormonde, M. (2012). Debunking the Myth of the “Anchor Baby”: Why Proposed Legislation Limiting Birthright Citizenship is not a Means of Controlling Unauthorized Immigration. Roger Williams University Law Review, 17(3).
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. § 18116. (2010).
Phillip, A. (2015, March 5). Inside the shadowy world of birth tourism at ‘maternity hotels.’ Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/03/05/the-shadowy-world-of-birth-tourism-at-californias-luxury-maternity-hotels/. Accessed 16 Jan 2019.
Saadi, A., Ahmed, S., & Katz, M. H. (2017). Making a Case for Sanctuary Hospitals. JAMA, 318(21), 2079–2080. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.15714
UNICEF. (2005). The “Rights” Start to Life: A Statistical Analysis of Birth Registration (p. 32). https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/R55BirthReg10a.pdf. Accessed 29 Jan 2019.
United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Treaty Series, 1577, 3. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en. Accessed 14 Feb 2019.
Upshur, R. E. G. (2002). Principles for the justification of public health intervention. Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne de Sante’e Publique, 93(2), 101–103.
Van Hook, J, & Fix, M. (2010). The Demographic Impacts of Repealing Birthright Citizenship. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/demographic-impacts-repealing-birthright-citizenship.
Vargas, E. D., Sanchez, G. R., & Juárez, M. (2017). Fear by association: Perceptions of anti-immigrant policy and health outcomes. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 42(3), 459–483. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-3802940
Wilson, Y., White, A., Jefferson, A., & Danis, M. (2019). Intersectionality in clinical medicine: The need for a conceptual framework. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(2), 8–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1557275
Funding
The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. No funding was secured for this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Philipsborn, R.P., Sorscher, E.A., Sexson, W. et al. Born on U.S. Soil: Access to Healthcare for Neonates of Non-Citizens. Matern Child Health J 25, 9–14 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-020-03020-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-020-03020-3