Sachse, Texas — Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to open an immediate investigation of Mission Regional Medical Center, a South Texas hospital that state officials say marketed "birth packages" to foreign nationals seeking to give birth in the United States. The governor said the practice, known as birth tourism, exploits the country's hospitality and citizenship laws.
Sachse, a suburb in Dallas and Collin counties east of the metroplex core, is one of the many North Texas communities whose hospitals and clinics serve a diverse, internationally connected population.
"Birth tourism is an illegal practice that exploits the extraordinary hospitality that the United States and Texas offer to millions of foreign travelers each year," said Governor Abbott.
