Los Angeles Cracks Down on Chinese 'Birth Tourism'

"Los Angeles is moving to crack down on so-called maternity hotels that have sprung up across Southern California, as pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States as part of a "birthing tourism" trend.  Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe asked colleagues to approve a series of steps designed to ultimately close the hotels - typically single-family homes illegally carved into a dozen or more bedrooms - where visiting women pay to stay in anticipation of giving birth to a US citizen." - Reuters / Associated Press, Jan. 31, 2013.

A diaper box sits outside a group of houses that were illegally modified into a maternity ward in San Gabriel, California. Photo: AP