Birth Tourism to the United States of America and its Perceived Implications for Ghana

Abstract

The global appeal to give birth to US-born citizens by foreign parents is increasingly highlighted by a growingbody of scholarship on its implications for US society. Based on mixed methods research conducted in threeGhanaian cities – Accra, Cape Coast, and Kumasi - this paper examines the awareness of birth tourism to theUnited States of America and its perceived implications for Ghana. Thus, 260 residents who are yet to give birthin the United States were surveyed, and 15 interviews with the parents of 25 US-born citizens were conducted.Mabogunje’s (1970) migration system theory served as an interpretive guide in the analysis. The paper arguesthat the travel to have a US-born citizen is an open secret; positive feedback from co-nationals pushes somepregnant Ghanaian women to give birth in the US. The city residents also agree that the travel to have US-borncitizens will act as a precursor to migration from Ghana to the United States of America, with the most significantimplication being brain drain. The paper recommends that origin countries should create an enablingenvironment that dissuades potential birth tourists from using US-born citizenship as a conduit to secure theirlong-term economic futures.