VOA慢速英语--大多数美国人希望在一定程度上保留堕胎权

Most Americans Want to Keep Abortion¹ Rights with Some Limits

Recent arguments before the United States Supreme² Court signaled that the more conservative justices may greatly limit abortion rights in the U.S.

The decision on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban will decide if the court's former rulings on abortion, including Roe³ v. Wade⁴, will remain.

If the court upholds Mississippi's law, it means individual states will be able to legislate⁵ abortion laws.

In 2020, The Associated Press found that 69 percent of voters in the presidential election said the Supreme Court should leave Roe v. Wade in place. Just 29 percent said the court should overturn the decision.

While Americans will likely not know the high court's ruling until June, here is where public opinion stands on abortion:

Big picture

Overall, when asking Americans if abortion should be legal or illegal, a majority of Americans side with abortion rights.

In June, a study by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 57 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. It found that 43 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Few Americans think abortion should be either legal or illegal in all cases.

Americans were also asked if abortion should be permitted if the woman's or the child's health is seriously at risk, or if the pregnancy⁶ is a result of rape⁷ or incest. Most Americans say abortions⁸ should be permitted in those cases, including majorities of conservatives. The Mississippi law makes few exceptions in the case of medical emergencies or a severe "abnormality" in the child.

But support for abortion rights greatly decreases for a woman who does not want to be pregnant "for any reason." About half of Americans think abortion should be permitted in that case.

A matter of time

The court's former decisions, known as precedents⁹, have given states the ability to restrict abortion rights after the point where a fetus¹⁰ could survive without the mother, or about 23 weeks.

In last week's argument, Chief Justice John Roberts said a 15-week ban is not far from 23 weeks. He asked, "if it really is an issue about choice, why is 15 weeks not enough time?"

Similar to support for abortion rights, the AP-NORC Center study showed a clear majority of Americans, 61 percent, said abortion in the first trimester should be legal in all or most cases.

However, a majority of 54 percent said abortion in the third trimester should always be illegal and another 26 percent said it should usually be illegal.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there are three trimesters in pregnancy. The first trimester lasts through 13 weeks and six days. The second is from 14 to 27 weeks and six days. And the third trimester starts at 28 weeks – that is the time when the fetus's weight increases and the organs begin to grow.

Leave it to the states?

During arguments last week, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of three new conservatives appointed by former President Donald Trump¹¹, also questioned if the court should be involved in the abortion issue.

"Why should this court be the arbiter¹² rather than Congress, the state legislatures, state supreme courts, the people being able to resolve this?" Kavanaugh asked. "And there will be different answers in Mississippi and New York, different answers in Alabama than California."

Guttmacher Institute is a research organization that supports abortion rights. It says abortion would soon become illegal or severely¹³ restricted in around half of the states if precedents are overturned. Legislatures in many Republican-led states are ready for action depending on the Supreme Court's ruling.

Words in This Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

uphold – v. to judge (a legal decision) to be correct: to decide not to change (a verdict)

incest – n. sexual intercourse¹⁴ between people who are very closely related

abnormality – n. something that is not usual, expected, or normal: something that is abnormal

trimester – n. one of three periods into which a woman's pregnancy is often divided

arbiter – n. a person who has the power to settle an argument between people

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 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

4 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

5 legislate   

vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法

参考例句：

• Therefore,it is very urgent to legislate for the right of privacy.因此，为隐私权立法刻不容缓。
• It's impossible to legislate for every contingency.为每一偶发事件都立法是不可能的。

6 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。

7 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

8 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

9 precedents   

引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例

参考例句：

• There is no lack of precedents in this connection. 不乏先例。
• He copied after bad precedents. 他仿效恶例。

10 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 arbiter   

n.仲裁人，公断人

参考例句：

• Andrew was the arbiter of the disagreement.安德鲁是那场纠纷的仲裁人。
• Experiment is the final arbiter in science.实验是科学的最后仲裁者。

13 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

14 intercourse   

n.性交；交流，交往，交际

参考例句：

• The magazine becomes a cultural medium of intercourse between the two peoples.该杂志成为两民族间文化交流的媒介。
• There was close intercourse between them.他们过往很密。