Pregnant Student Told To Leave NZ For Birth

A pregnant woman studying in New Zealand has been ordered to leave the country because she fails to meet health requirements – despite medical insurance picking up all of her costs.

Of the three reasons to send her away (cost, demand, citizenship), there is only one possibly valid one left, and that is demand for services. In which case, it should be fine for her to say if Nelson Hospital says they have space for her.

Sounds like an arbitrary decision, and I hope that the media exposure will work in her favour because:

* it will sour her opinion of NZ and our reputation as being visitor friendly
* it will be less good for the baby to have to travel when so young, for her to return and finish her course in the near future, if that is even possible
* if not possible, it will cause an undue delay in her being able to finish her course
* waste of travel miles for her to have to cross the world twice for no good reason
* a large number of kiwi women are giving birth overseas, neutralising the demand issue - if every country sent them home, our services would be more burdened

This just made me laugh.
It's the rules. You can't bend them for one person, then not bend them for the next. THAT would be discrimination.
Applying the rule about pregnancy to a pregnant woman IS NOT DISCRIMINATION.
She should have read the flaming website.

ChelseaT wrote:You can't bend them for one person

No, but you can write them to meet their purpose in the first place.

So the rule is silly, sure.
Don't wait until they catch you before you mention anything.
She gets no sympathy from me. The policy was on the website, which I'm gooing to guess she had access to at some point before she left.

Chelsea, Perhaps you should read the associated article before making your ill informed conclusions.

Particularly the part where it is stated that the authorities were informed of her situation before she arrived in the country, and that all associated costs would be met.

Oy vey.

Her Insurance covers the cost, so why should she leave? The Right for babies born in NZ to automatically get Citizenship was removed many years ago.

If she did not have Insurance I would hold a different view.

The Minister could have exercised discretion in this case. And like ones.