A tropical island babymoon sounds like such a great idea. Soaking your swollen body in the ocean and floating… but you’ll need to cross one Pacific Island OFF your list.
According to the Wall Street Journal, airlines are asking women to take a pregnancy test before they visit Saipan, a United States Island in the South Pacific?
Where? Saipan is part of the Northern Mariana Islands. OK … here’s a map.
It’s close to Guam and Palau, north of Indonesia and west of China. And that’s the problem. US authorities don’t want Chinese women to come and give birth on the island.
US authorities claim they have seen a rise in “birth tourism” in the islands. Essentially, women fly to Saipan, give birth, and then claim their child is an American Citizen.
Airport pregnancy tests
Midori Nishida, 25, was asked to take a pregnancy test before she was allowed to board a flight to Saipan from Hong Kong. According to the WSJ, Midori was “escorted to a public restroom and handed a strip to urinate on“.
Yep. That’s right. The Hong Kong Express Airways took her to the bathroom and made her pee on a pregnancy test. And Midori had already started on her immigration questionnaire that she was NOT pregnant.
“They assured me that this was a random test and I could decline if I wished to, but I would not be able to board the flight,” she told the WSJ.
“When they handed me the medical authorisation form, it became apparent that this was not random as they stated, but based on my appearance.”
Hong Kong Express Airways reportedly told her the test was to ensure US immigration rules “were not being undermined”.
We’re sorry
The airline has since apologised and said they will suspend the practice of forcing women to take pregnancy tests before boarding flights to Saipan. But, it does raise the question of how this rule came about in the first place.
Dreaming of a holiday without the pregnancy test? Try a family hotel with a LAZY RIVER.
Or read more about pregnancy with these stories.
- Sex in Pregnancy: EVERYTHING You Need to Know
- Non-Immunised Pregnant Women Warned to Avoid Toyko
- NEWS: Sleeping on Back While Pregnant is as Bad as Smoking 10 Cigarettes a Day
- Baby Brain Blunders: This List Proves Pregnancy & Common Sense Don’t Mix
