Hong Kong jails woman acting as 'birth agent' for mainland Chinese

HONG KONG // A woman received a 10-month prison sentence for a woman who admitted helping mainland Chinese women give birth in Hong Kong.

The semiautonomous city has struggled with an influx of tens of thousands of mainland women who come to Hong Kong each year to give birth, to gain residency rights for their children and to circumvent China's one-child policy.

Authorities have stepped up enforcement amid outrage in Hong Kong. Hong Kong women have protested against the influx, which critics say has led to a shortage of maternity beds in hospitals.

In the first prosecution of its kind, the mainland woman Xu Li was sentenced to 10 months in jail on Monday over her role as a "birth agent".

She pleaded guilty to one count of breaching her conditions of stay, which bars her from carrying out business activities, and another offence of making a false representation to an immigration officer.

"We welcome the ruling," Christine Chan said. Ms Chan is the spokeswoman of a popular Facebook campaign set up to protest against mainland women giving birth in Hong Kong.

"The judge sent a very strong message that agents who encourage pregnant mainland women to wait until the last minute and then force their way into Hong Kong emergency wards are endangering others' lives."