What would happen to baby born in a plane over the ocean?

ie.... if there was a plane form africa heading towards the united states and a mother gives birth right there in the plane over the middle of the ocean, What country is the baby from?|||Well, this is complicated because almost every country in the world, as well as the United Nations, has procedures and recommendations for how to properly classify the geographic details of an in-air birth. The United Nations considers a child born in-flight to have been born in the airplane's registered country. Some countries point to the city where the child first disembarked the plane as the place of birth. As each country and airline have differing rules and regulations on this, there is no clear-cut answer.





I CAN give you the answer to the babies nationality though.





Nationality is a relationship between a person and their state of origin, culture, association, affiliation and/or loyalty. Nationality affords the state jurisdiction over the person, and affords the person the protection of the state. It is established at birth by a child's place of birth (jus soli) and/or bloodline (jus sanguinis)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationality





Citizenship is membership in a political community and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen. It is largely coterminous with nationality. Citizenship is the political rights of an individual within a society. Citizenship status often implies some responsibilities and duties under social contract theory. Citizenship derives from a legal relationship with a state. Citizenship can be lost, as in denaturalization, and gained, as in naturalization, or by marriage.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship





The US (along with a few other countries) has laws set up so that a child born on a plane inside the US, or flying over it's territories would acquire US citizenship. In cases where the baby is born over US territories (and the parents are not US citizens), the baby would be born with dual citizenship - the nationality of the parents, and American citizenship. This is known as Jus Soli.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli


http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/07fam/0鈥?/a> Section 7FAM1116.1-3 AIRSPACE paragraph a





Most countries though have rules set up so that the child will only acquire the nationality of the parents, such as the rules of many European and African countries. That means that just because a baby is born on a Belgium plane (for example), the baby would not receive Belgium citizenship unless at least one of the parents was Belgium, or the family had been living in Belgium for a period of some years. The baby would only acquire the nationality of the parents. This is known as Jus Sanguinis.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_sanguin鈥?/a>





In the case of Belgium citizenship, citizenship is based on a mixture the principles of Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli. In other words both place of birth and Belgian parentage are relevant for determining whether a person is a Belgian citizen. It is regulated by the Code of Belgian Nationality. In some circumstances citizenship is granted to children born in Belgium to non-Belgian parents. This is not the case where parents are temporary or short term visitors. The child, once s/he is between 18 and 22 can sign a declaration indicating that s/he wants Belgian nationality.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_nat鈥?/a>








As for flying while pregnant, a woman is safe to travel by plane from the beginning of her pregnancy all the way up until the end portion of her last trimester (usually 9th month - 36 weeks) and can manage what ever kind of trip(s) she wants to do as long as she and her pregnancy are healthy and the pregnancy is progressing normally. As long as everything is fine, air travel does NOT increase the risk of miscarriage or pre-term labor, and poses no other risks to her or her child.





It is the last four weeks (once she reaches the 9th month - 36 weeks) that women are usually prohibited from flying. This is because after 36 weeks, a women can go into labor at any time, and the airplane is not made to handle such situations. For one, there is no guarantee that a doctor will be on board a plane, plus, should any complications arise during the labor and delivery, the plane does not have the medical equipment to handle such situations and it could put the health of the mother and child in danger.





All airlines make up their own rules and regulations regarding pregnant women. Some do not restrict travel at all, no matter what stage of pregnancy a women is in, and others start to restrict at 7 months, although the majority restrict around 36 weeks.














I wrote an article that talks all about flying while pregnant, and addresses the issues of when a mother can fly, when she is restricted from flying, what happens if a baby is born mid flight, etc.


http://jamiehassen79.angelfire.com/pregn鈥?/a>





I hope this helped to clear some things up for you. If I can be of any more help or assistance, please feel free to contact me.