每日外刊 | 0509-美国最高法院投票欲推翻堕胎权，其如何自救于水火

考研英语时事阅读 · 公众号 · 考研 · 2022-05-09 09:01

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How to save the Supreme Court from itself

最高法院如何自救于水火之中

Hippocrates condemned abortion; Aristotle thought it less cruel than exposing unwanted infants to the elements. The West has been arguing about this hard moral problem for over 2,000 years. Most Western democracies have found a compromise between the liberal position, held by this newspaper, that the state should not control women’s bodies; and the most conservative position, that any abortion is murder. In Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, legislatures have allowed abortion early in pregnancy and made it illegal later. Most Americans agree with that, but their country stands apart.

希波克拉底谴责堕胎；亚里斯多德认为把不想要的婴儿暴露在自然环境中比堕胎要残忍得多。2000多年来，西方一直在这个棘手的道德问题上争论不休。大多数西方民主国家在开明的立场（也是本报所持的立场）和最保守的立场之间找到了折中，前者认为国家不应控制女性的身体，后者则认为任何堕胎都是谋杀。在澳大利亚、英国、加拿大、法国、德国和日本，立法机构允许怀孕早期堕胎，之后则将其定为非法。大多数美国人同意这一点，但他们的国家与众不同。

A leaked draft of a majority opinion from America’s Supreme Court obtained by Politico, a news organisation, suggests that the court will overturn Roe v Wade, the 50-year-old decision that makes abortion legal until the fetus becomes viable. If so, state law would take precedence. Most abortions look set to become illegal in half of states; some bans would include cases of rape or incest. Better-off women can take time off work and travel to legal clinics, so the burden would fall mainly on poorer women. Banning abortion would increase the number of pregnancy-related deaths, by over 20%, according to one study.

新闻机构Politico获得了一份泄露的美国最高法院多数派意见草案，该法院将推翻已有50年历史的罗伊诉韦德案，该法案使得在胎儿能够存活之前，堕胎是合法的。如果是这样的话，州法律将优先执行。在美国一半的州，大多数堕胎都将成为非法行为；一些禁令将包括强奸或乱伦案件。经济状况较好的女性可以请假去法律诊所看病，因此负担将主要落在较贫穷的女性身上。一项研究表明，禁止堕胎将使与怀孕有关的死亡人数增幅超过20%。