Statelessness and Maternal Health in DR

In 2013, the Dominican Republic changed its immigration policies to ensure that children who are born in the Dominican Republic to undocumented parents do not receive Dominican citizenship. If Haitian women give birth to their children in the Dominican Republic, they also do not receive Haitian citizenship because they were born in the Dominican Republic. Even the the threat that their children will be “stateless,” thousands of women are still migrating to Dominican hospitals to safely give birth to their children.

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