美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rolling back abortion rights was central to conservatives. What's the focus now?

Rolling back abortion¹ rights was central to conservatives. What's the focus now?

Transcript²

Following the Supreme³ Court decision to overturn Roe⁴ v. Wade⁵, NPR's Rachel Martin talks to George Mason University law professor Helen Alvare about the next steps of the anti-abortion rights movement.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I spoke⁶ earlier this morning with Helen Alvare with George Mason University School of Law. She has been central in helping⁷ shape legal theory and strategy for abortion rights opponents. I asked her what the movement's focus is now.

HELEN ALVARE: Pro-life efforts will be concentrated on things like state legislation, state Constitutions, resisting what are going to be probably some pretty intense federal efforts to ensure abortion for nine months for any reason. Pro-life groups have been assisting single mothers and their children with thousands, thousands of centers over the last 50 years. I think they'll try and reach across and maybe have pro-choice organizations start to help them on this. They haven't for the last 50 years. So they'd like to have that.

Finally, I think, know, Janet Yellen and other economists⁸ have actually written some law and economics articles showing that you might have fewer unintended in-crisis pregnancies⁹ once abortion is just known in the atmosphere to be less available. And then finally - and this is a, you know, religious and spiritual but also just a philosophical¹⁰ and cultural effort - there will be efforts to ensure that, you know, corporations in particular, but also government and other institutions, value caregiving (laughter). I mean, this is the entire future of the country. Millions and millions of women do it and need their help.

MARTIN: Well, let's talk about that because you mentioned pregnancy¹¹ centers that are out there to help pregnant women through unwanted pregnancies. What happens to all the babies who will be born into potentially unsafe circumstances because the mother is at risk in some way?

ALVARE: Right.

MARTIN: How are those babies going to be cared for?

ALVARE: So...

MARTIN: Because support like that has not materialized over the years.

ALVARE: Well, the first thing is, I guess, to say that pro-life groups have been materializing that support. And I just - I can't emphasize enough how much they would like pro-choice groups to step in instead of just focusing on providing abortion, to step in and provide assistance...

MARTIN: But I have to push back. I mean, the U.S. is the only country in the group of the largest economies without a federal paid family leave policy.

ALVARE: Oh, yes.

MARTIN: The child tax credit hasn't been extended.

ALVARE: Right.

MARTIN: And these are programs many on the conservative right have voted against.

ALVARE: Actually, if you look at the literature on this - one of the most wonderful sites is the Institute for Family Studies - you'll see a huge push in the pro-life movement. It's not everybody, but it's an awful lot and an increasing number who are supporting things like mandatory¹² paid leave, expansion of the child tax credit. We know, however, because we have experiments on this, that money is great. And corporations in particular have got to step up and government should force them. I'm in agreement with that. On the other hand, we also know that sort of this focus on autonomy is problematic on itself. And we really need to talk about a narrative¹³ of care for all the lives involved. It's expensive. It's more time-consuming. Corporations would rather pay for abortions¹⁴, I think, than actually provide this paid leave. But that focus on caregiving as a successful narrative of life that the public loves and accepts ought to be increased.

MARTIN: And of course, it doesn't just fall on corporations. It falls to lawmakers in Congress to pass laws like that.

ALVARE: Absolutely.

MARTIN: I want to ask - 11 states have already passed so-called trigger laws banning abortion or severely¹⁵ limiting it. Do you think a woman who wants an abortion should be able to cross state lines to get one?

ALVARE: You know, what the Dobbs decision says is, states all have rights to pass health, safety and welfare laws. So they do have a right to control in their borders the protection of the health of both the child and the mother together and not just one over the other. People are going to be able to cross state lines to do it. Are people going to be able to give abortion medicine across their state lines in violation¹⁶ of their pro-life laws? No. Are women going to be allowed to go out of state? Yeah. That's been something that, according to the Constitution's interstate right to travel, has been protected from the beginning.

MARTIN: I want to conclude with this question about Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring¹⁷ opinion. He wrote that the court should now, in light of Dobbs, reconsider all the precedents¹⁸ established under the 14th Amendment's due process clause, including contraception access and same-sex marriage. Do you agree?

ALVARE: So I think the court was really, really clear. And Justice Alito is right when he says abortion deliberately¹⁹ terminates a human life. And that is extremely different from all of these other things. And you really can't say that this opinion on one is a decision about these others. I think they would have a fairly easy time on the contraception question, rooting around in the right of privacy, the private home, a private relationship. So I think that that's a very different question.

MARTIN: OK. Law professor Helen Alvare from George Mason University, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

ALVARE: Thank you so much.

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 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 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？

5 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。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

10 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

11 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。

12 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。

13 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

14 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

15 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。

16 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

17 concurring   

同时发生的，并发的

参考例句：

• Concurring with expectations, the degree of polymorphism was highest in the central. 正如所料，多型性程度在中部种群中最高。
• The more an affect arises from a number of causes concurring together, the greater it is. 同时凑合起来以激起一个情感的原因愈多，则这个情感将必愈大。

18 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。

19 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。