Nearly 30 people including pregnant mainland women chose Mother's Day to protest against a Hong Kong government decision blocking non-local women from giving birth in public hospitals until the end of the year, according to a notice on the website of Mainland-Hong Kong Families Rights Association on Sunday.

The pregnant women were all the wives of Hong Kong citizens and expect to have babies this year, the notice said.

Association representatives said the government could ask them to provide marriage certificates to prove they were married to HK citizens and so be allowed to give birth in HK public hospitals, the release said.

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HKHA) last month announced that bookings for delivery in public hospitals would be closed immediately to non-local pregnant women until the end of the year in order to ensure adequate maternity services for local expectant mothers.

The Public Hospital Obstetrics Services Concern Group, a group organized by Hong Kong medical practitioners, has said it supports the idea of local public hospitals reserving some beds for HK citizens' mainland wives.

Mainland mothers gave birth to 40,000 of the 88,500 babies born last year in Hong Kong. Some 32,653 of these babies were born to parents who were both from the mainland, compared with just 620 a decade ago, according to HKHA. The increase in pregnant mainland women has put pressure on obstetric beds and staff.

Four public hospitals in HK, including Prince of Wales Hospital and United Christian Hospital, declared at an HKHA conference on Friday that they would continue to turn down non-local pregnant women in 2012. They said each public hospital could only receive about 4,000 pregnant women each year, Guangzhou Daily reported on Sunday.

But HKHA Chief Executive Dr Leung Pak-yin said Saturday that no final decision had yet been made on continuing the ban into 2012.

Giving birth in a public hospital in Hong Kong costs between 60,000 and 70,000 yuan (US$9,214 and US$10,781), according to Chen Yan, a staff member at a Beijing-based agency specializing in sending expectant mainland mothers to Hong Kong.