美国国家公共电台 NPR Down Syndrome Families Divided Over Abortion Ban

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE¹: Ohio might soon become the latest state to restrict abortions³. A bill to ban doctors from performing abortions after a Down syndrome⁴ diagnosis⁵ has passed both chambers⁶ of the state legislature and could be on its way to the governor's desk this week. As NPR's Sarah McCammon reports, this issue divides families of children with Down syndrome.

MCCAMMON: There are two mothers in this story with a lot in common. Both live in Ohio. They're a few years apart in age. They both work in the medical field, and each has a child with Down syndrome.

KELLY KUHNS: Ready? Set. Go.

MCCAMMON: That's Kelly Kuhns and her 2-year-old son, Oliver, in their home outside Columbus.

KUHNS: Do you want to go eat?

MCCAMMON: Kuhns is 36 and works as a labor⁷ and delivery nurse. She and her husband have three children including Oliver. A prenatal test revealed he has the mutation⁸ called trisomy 21 or Down syndrome, which causes developmental delays.

KUHNS: I was definitely shocked. It was not what I was expecting at all. I grieved deeply.

MCCAMMON: But Kuhns says she never considered ending the pregnancy⁹.

KUHNS: He's still a baby. He's still worthy¹⁰ of a life just like everybody else.

MCCAMMON: Kuhns has testified in support of the Ohio bill that would make performing abortions based on a Down syndrome diagnosis a felony. But Kuhns, who's active in her local Down Syndrome Association, says she keeps her opinion to herself at local meet-ups because the issue is so controversial.

NORA: (Unintelligible).

MCCAMMON: Two hours away in Cincinnati, Emily Chesnut lives with her husband and their four active children.

EMILY CHESNUT: What's your name?

NORA: My name is Nora.

MCCAMMON: When Chesnut was pregnant with Nora, who's now 6, she was told she had a heart defect that could indicate the presence of Down syndrome. Chesnut opted¹¹ not to get any further testing because she had bigger concerns.

CHESNUT: I was more worried about her heart.

MCCAMMON: Chesnut, who's 40 and works in IT for a local hospital, believes women should be given a choice about whether to continue such a pregnancy. She and other abortion² rights advocates argue Down syndrome is being used to push an anti-abortion agenda in a handful of states, including Ohio, which has passed several new abortion restrictions¹² in recent years.

CHESNUT: Down syndrome is an easy face. Everybody knows somebody or has seen somebody or has a friend or a friend. So, you know, I really think that Down syndrome is just kind of being the pawn¹³ to the bill, which is just restricting women's choice.

MCCAMMON: Some physicians have raised concerns that such legislation could limit important conversations between doctors and pregnant women. Supporters argue it's about protecting and valuing people with disabilities. Heather Sachs is with the National Down Syndrome Congress and the mother of a 12-year-old girl with Down syndrome. She says many families are concerned about recent reports from Iceland that the genetic¹⁴ disorder¹⁵ has come close to being eradicated¹⁶ there through prenatal testing and pregnancy termination.

HEATHER SACHS: I'm not going to lie, it hurts, especially when you have family members with Down syndrome who are very much a integral part of their families. And so when you have, you know, news such as that that came out of Iceland, it definitely stings.

MCCAMMON: But on the question of whether to ban such abortions, Sachs says her organization isn't taking a position. She says abortion remains¹⁷ a divisive issue in the Down syndrome community, much like it is everywhere else. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Columbus, Ohio.

(SOUNDBITE OF SOULAR ORDER'S "THEY'LL LIE TO YOU")

1 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。

2 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。

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 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

5 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

6 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

9 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。

10 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

11 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

12 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

13 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。

14 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

15 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

16 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。