“Who would not love to give birth in America?” The Intentions and Experiences in having American ‘Jackpot Babies’ Among Urban Dwellers in Ghana

Abstract

Birth tourism to the USA is a form of mobility that is inextricably linked and symbiotically related to American birthright citizenship, international tourism and migration. Its popularity has grown around the world in recent years, including Ghana, where it is an open secret that some Ghanaian families have American ‘jackpot babies’. An American ‘jackpot baby’ refers to a child born on American soil to one of the foreign parents admitted as a short-term visitor or as a birth tourist solely to access the better opportunities available to American citizens. This interdisciplinary study investigates the intentions and experiences of having American ‘jackpot babies’ among Ghanaian urban dwellers and their implications for Ghana. Using survey and semi-structured in-depth interviews concurrently, data were collected from 260 urban dwellers from three major cities of Ghana – Accra, Cape Coast and Kumasi – who are yet to give birth in the USA and 13 Ghanaian families that have a total of 25 American ‘jackpot babies’, respectively. The adapted Leiper’s tourism system approach acted as an interpretative guide in the analysis. Among others, the study found that almost 83% of the Ghanaian urban dwellers sampled were aware that some Ghanaian women give birth in the USA. As a result, their awareness has influenced about 64% of them to have the intentions to have American ‘jackpot babies’ too. A logistic regression model disclosed that 35% of the urban dwellers’ intentions are explained by their socio-demographic characteristics. Thus, a little over three-fifth (60.2%) of these urban dwellers that had volitional control to have American ‘jackpot babies’ were women aged 20-34 years. Also, the model revealed that the attitudes of the urban dwellers towards Ghanaian birth tourists to the USA were not a determinant of their intentions to participate in birth tourism to the USA. The study further found that having American ‘jackpot babies’ was not an easy endeavour as a Ghanaian urban dweller needs to have spousal support and the motility to be transformed into the travel to the USA to give birth. Besides, the successful birth of American ‘jackpot babies’ implies that these Ghanaian parents have formed Planned Binational Families (PBFs) where the lives of their ‘babies’ are shaped by paradoxical belonging. The study concludes that intentions to have American ‘jackpot babies’ were motivated by presumed better living conditions and opportunities offered to American citizens. However, these intentions provide evidence that urban dwellers in Ghana do not see their citizenship functioning as an opportunity-enhancing tool either for them, their children or families. Also, in their desire to have children with paradoxical belonging, Ghanaian parents of PBFs are oblivious to the challenges associated with having this form of belonging such as animosity among siblings with different citizenships, their American ‘jackpot babies’ developing identity crisis, and experiencing social exclusion. Furthermore, intentions and experiences in having American ‘jackpot babies’ will act as a precursor to migration from Ghana to the USA where the main implication is brain drain and the concomitant reliance on remittances from its citizens residing in the USA as a means to economic survival. The study recommends an effective political leadership in Ghana to create a socio-economic environment that permits human flourishing, wellbeing and equal opportunities for all Ghanaians and instils a sense of patriotism and selfworth for the country. Also, Ghanaian PBFs should seek professional counselling for all their members to deal with the challenges associated with having paradoxical belonging.