Texas Hospital Birth Tourism Ads Trigger Abbott Probe

The U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The amendment was meant to secure citizenship for freed slaves after the Civil War and overturn the Dred Scott decision. Native Americans were not considered citizens until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

American-born children can sponsor their parents for a green card when they turn 21. Parents then wait five years before applying for naturalization and often must leave the U.S. for a decade before applying for citizenship.

The legal question is whether the 14th Amendment's original intent covers children of parents who entered the country illegally. Courts are supposed to interpret the Constitution in light of the law as it existed when adopted, per Mattox v. United States (1895).

Abbott's investigation will test whether Texas law or the hospital's contractual obligations prohibit marketing birth tourism. The outcome could set a precedent for how states handle the practice.