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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.) (Agencies) |
當美國芝加哥人艾麗?拉維在國外生下漂亮的雙胞胎女兒時，她心里別提多高興了。 然而當她前往以色列特拉維夫的美國大使館為孩子申請國籍時，卻發現美國國務院并沒有分享她的喜悅。 一位大使館工作人員想知道拉維是否在生育診所里懷孕的。她回答說是，結果被告知她的孩子不夠資格加入美國國籍，除非她能證明造出胚胎的卵子或精子來自美國公民。 拉維說：“我感到羞辱又恐懼，我們談論的是我生的孩子。她們當然是我的孩子。” 這一事件指出的問題就是評論家所說的美國國籍法中存在的赤裸裸的不公平。美國公民在海外收養的孩子有資格成為美國公民，而在美國生下的小孩，就算父母不是美國人，也是美國公民。 但是，美國公民在海外通過捐贈卵子和精子體外受精造出的胚胎所生的孩子卻不是美國人，除非其中一位捐贈者是美國人。體外受精如今越來越普遍。移民法專家說，診所也許因保密協議無法透露捐贈者的信息，所以捐贈者國籍便難以證實。 新澤西的一位專打生育糾紛官司的律師梅麗莎?布里斯曼說：“問題在于法律未能跟上生殖技術的發展步伐。” 美國國務院稱，美國人在美國境外生下的小孩不能獲得美國國籍，除非父母親至少其中一位和孩子確定存在血緣關系。如果是不孕婦女在診所用捐贈的卵子懷上的孩子，那么這一關系便不存在。 那些在國外收養孩子的父母和孩子也不存在血緣關系，但是美國法律卻讓收養的孩子可以免于受這一規定的約束。 布里斯曼說，盡管這一規定旨在防止人們假稱有親子關系而濫用美國國籍法，但“這一規定也傷害了那些只是想讓孩子繼承自己國籍的不孕不育的美國人”。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：Julie） |
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Vocabulary: embryo: 胚胎 glaring: 刺目的，耀眼的 in vitro fertilization: 試管內受精，體外受精 |
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