Maternity Care Providers’ Perceptions of the Implications of Birth and Gestation Tourism for Patients, Health Care Providers, and the Canadian Health Care System

Abstract

This study investigates maternity care providers’ perceptions of birth tourism and international gestational preconception arrangements (i.e., surrogacy). A convenience sample of 136 maternity care providers from Alberta and British Columbia completed our online survey. Respondents reported consequences of both practices, including redirection of Canada’s health care resources from local citizens, ramifications for the integrity of the immigration system, socio-economic consequences for the health care system and care providers, and health risks for mothers and infants. Of the respondents, 30.6% somewhat disagreed and 31.3% strongly disagreed with awarding citizenship by birth in Canada, 81.4% stated that birthright citizenship legislation should be modified, and 80.0% stated that Canada should disallow foreign nationals from paying women living in Canada to gestate, give birth, and surrender children to foreign nationals. Further research is necessary to quantify the scope and implications of birth tourism and international gestational preconception arrangements and to determine whether these implications justify amendment to current legislation.