A 25-year-old Japanese woman Midori Nishida had to pass a pregnancy test to get on a flight flying to Saipan, a US island in the Pacific Ocean, where she was going to visit her parents. She was not pregnant and claimed this in the registration form, but airline employees forced her to undergo a pregnancy test before she was allowed to board.
The story happened in November last year, but received publicity only the other day, when an indignant citizen of the Land of the Rising Sun told the Wall Street Journal about this story. According to the publication, because of her obesity, the young woman was suspected of pregnancy, although she answered this question negatively in the questionnaire before the trip. Nishida said that it was "very humiliating and unpleasant" when, accompanied by employees, she had to go to a public toilet, where she was handed a test strip. The result, of course, turned out to be negative, and she could board the plane.
The Hong Kong Express Airways airline, which conducted this flight, said it had begun conducting similar tests on women whose forms were suspicious in response to the “concern expressed by the Saipan authorities,” where in 2018 the so-called generic tourism led to the birth of more children arriving guests than residents. Thus, only Chinese women gave birth there to 575 babies in the Northern Mariana Islands this year, compared with 12 in 2009, when the Chinese visa-free travel program was introduced.
Saipan authorities are trying to prevent cunning "maternity" practice, while maintaining a visa-free travel program for hundreds of thousands of Chinese travelers who are critical to the island's economy. According to Kevin Bautista, a spokeswoman for the office of Governor of Saipan, this practice increases the health risk of mothers who arrive late in pregnancy without records of antenatal care.
It also undermines the island’s reputation as a tourist destination, he said, adding that local officials want people to visit the Mariana Islands “for the sake of our beautiful beaches, our unique environment and our world-famous island hospitality.”
“We recommended that airlines introduce more effective procedures for checking the health and safety of pregnant women, but did not require pregnancy tests. Thus, the airline showed excessive zeal, causing inconvenience to passengers, the American authorities and themselves,” he said.
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