美妇女海外人工受孕宝宝申请美国籍遭拒

中国日报网 2012-04-20 08:54

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Ellie Lavi, an American-Israeli, plays with her daughters, Maya, left, and Shira, at their home in Tel Aviv. Lavi had trouble when she applied for US citizenship for them.

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Chicago native Ellie Lavi could not have been happier when she gave birth to beautiful twin girls overseas.

She found that the US State Department did not share in her joy when she went to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to apply for citizenship for her children.

An embassy staffer wanted to know whether Lavi got pregnant at a fertility clinic. She said yes and was told that her children were not eligible for citizenship unless she could prove that the egg or sperm used to create the embryo was from an American citizen.

"I was humiliated and horrified," Lavi said. "We're talking about the children I gave birth to. Of course they're my children."

The incident points out what critics say is a glaring inequity in US citizenship regulations. A child adopted overseas by a US citizen is eligible to become an American, and a baby born in the USA is American even if the parents are not.

But a child born to a US citizen overseas through the increasingly common practice of in vitro fertilization with embryos from donor eggs and sperm is not American, unless an American is one of the donors. And that can be hard to prove since clinics may not reveal such things about their donors due to confidentiality agreements, immigration law experts say.

"The problem is that the law hasn't kept up with the advances in reproductive technology," said Melissa Brisman, a lawyer in New Jersey who specializes in fertility issues.

The US State Department says a child born outside the USA to an American cannot receive citizenship until a biological link with at least one parent is established. That link does not exist if an infertile woman uses donor eggs at a clinic to conceive.

No such biological link exists for parents who adopt children overseas either, but US law exempts adopted children from the regulation.

"Although the regulations are designed to prevent the abuse of American citizenship laws" through fraudulent claims of parentage, Brisman said, "they're also hurting infertile Americans who simply want to pass on their citizenship to their kids."

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

当美国芝加哥人艾丽•拉维在国外生下漂亮的双胞胎女儿时，她心里别提多高兴了。

然而当她前往以色列特拉维夫的美国大使馆为孩子申请国籍时，却发现美国国务院并没有分享她的喜悦。

一位大使馆工作人员想知道拉维是否在生育诊所里怀孕的。她回答说是，结果被告知她的孩子不够资格加入美国国籍，除非她能证明造出胚胎的卵子或精子来自美国公民。

拉维说：“我感到羞辱又恐惧，我们谈论的是我生的孩子。她们当然是我的孩子。”

这一事件指出的问题就是评论家所说的美国国籍法中存在的赤裸裸的不公平。美国公民在海外收养的孩子有资格成为美国公民，而在美国生下的小孩，就算父母不是美国人，也是美国公民。

但是，美国公民在海外通过捐赠卵子和精子体外受精造出的胚胎所生的孩子却不是美国人，除非其中一位捐赠者是美国人。体外受精如今越来越普遍。移民法专家说，诊所也许因保密协议无法透露捐赠者的信息，所以捐赠者国籍便难以证实。

新泽西的一位专打生育纠纷官司的律师梅丽莎•布里斯曼说：“问题在于法律未能跟上生殖技术的发展步伐。”

美国国务院称，美国人在美国境外生下的小孩不能获得美国国籍，除非父母亲至少其中一位和孩子确定存在血缘关系。如果是不孕妇女在诊所用捐赠的卵子怀上的孩子，那么这一关系便不存在。

那些在国外收养孩子的父母和孩子也不存在血缘关系，但是美国法律却让收养的孩子可以免于受这一规定的约束。

布里斯曼说，尽管这一规定旨在防止人们假称有亲子关系而滥用美国国籍法，但“这一规定也伤害了那些只是想让孩子继承自己国籍的不孕不育的美国人”。

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（中国日报网英语点津陈丹妮编辑：Julie）

Vocabulary:

embryo: 胚胎

glaring: 刺目的，耀眼的

in vitro fertilization: 试管内受精，体外受精

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