美国国家公共电台 NPR For Many Women, The Nearest Abortion Provider Is Hundreds Of Miles Away

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

While abortion¹ is legal in the United States, for some, it is not very accessible. A new study finds that many women face legal barriers and long distances to get the procedure. NPR's Sarah McCammon reports.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE²: There's just one clinic providing abortions³ in all of South Dakota - in Sioux Falls. Kelsey lives there. We're not using her last name to protect her privacy. But because of South Dakota's mandatory⁴ waiting period law, she would have had to meet with a doctor, wait 72 hours and then go back. Kelsey, a nurse, had just gotten a new job at the time.

KELSEY: So I knew that three days was just really not going to work because then I'd to take two days off of work for a job that I just started not too long ago.

MCCAMMON: When South Dakota's Republican governor, Dennis Daugaard, signed the mandatory waiting period into law in 2011, he said he hoped it would reduce abortions by encouraging women to consider alternatives and, quote, "make good choices." Kelsey says when she found out she was pregnant a couple of years ago, she was going through a rough time and knew she wasn't ready to be a parent.

KELSEY: So then I thought, OK, well, where's my next choice? Sioux City couldn't get me. That's in Iowa - couldn't get me in until a couple of weeks later.

MCCAMMON: She called a clinic in Lincoln, Neb., more than 200 miles away. They couldn't get her in right away either. Kelsey was just a few weeks along, and it was important to her to end the pregnancy⁵ early.

KELSEY: Everybody has their own feelings about what is appropriate for them to have an abortion there - how far they want to wait and things like that. So I just knew I just wanted to do it.

MCCAMMON: She finally found an appointment in Minneapolis, a four-hour drive away on a day she was already scheduled to be off. She and her boyfriend, now fiance, drove up after work the night before and paid for a hotel room.

Many women have no choice but to travel, some more than 300 miles each way according to the new analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization that supports abortion rights. The report says new restrictions⁶ passed by Republican legislatures have led to clinics closing in a few states, forcing women to drive farther. Lead author Jonathan Bearak is a senior research scientist at Guttmacher.

JONATHAN BEARAK: I think that there's an unfortunate extent to which access to abortion is a bit contingent⁷ on your ZIP code.

MCCAMMON: On average, women travel 11 miles one way for an abortion. But Bearak says the distances are often much longer in rural areas. He says social stigma⁸ is a factor.

BEARAK: Not just the patients but the doctors are affected⁹ by stigma. And that blocks them from provisioning the care.

MCCAMMON: It's an issue for doctors in South Dakota. For 25 years, Planned Parenthood has been flying doctors from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls and back twice each week to consult with patients and later perform abortions. Dr. Carol Ball has been coming here for a decade.

CAROL BALL: I've been told by a supportive physician here that basically providing abortions for a South Dakota physician in Sioux Falls would be, quote, unquote, "career suicide."

MCCAMMON: Ball says many of her patients travel hundreds of miles to see her, too. That often means taking time off work and finding childcare.

BALL: They have to do that twice, especially for one that takes at least a day, for many of our women, not just a few hours.

MCCAMMON: The Guttmacher report recommends expanding access to abortion through things like telemedicine and rolling back restrictive laws. The study appears in The Lancet Public Health Journal. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Sioux Falls, S.D.

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

4 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

8 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。