美国国家公共电台 NPR--Volunteer escorts at clinics that provide abortions are shifting their focus

Volunteer escorts at clinics that provide abortions² are shifting their focus

Transcript³

Volunteer escorts typically walk patients to and from the doors of abortion¹ providers. But as more clinics close, such volunteers are navigating⁴ an increasingly precarious⁵ reality.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

In states where abortion is still legal or not banned outright⁶, volunteer clinic escorts walk patients to and from the abortion providers' doors as a protective reassurance⁷ against protesters. Leticia Wiggins of member station WOSU reports on the expanded role these volunteers are taking on as more clinics close.

LETICIA WIGGINS, BYLINE⁸: In Columbus recently, a dozen antiabortion activists⁹ line up along the black fence bordering Planned Parenthood. Some protesters pray with rosaries. A few wear high-tech¹⁰ body cameras to record patients entering the clinic. Others yell through speakers.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You don't have to do this. Whatever's happening here today is going to hurt.

WIGGINS: Kathleen Knost stands near the clinic door. Her rainbow-striped vest reads, clinic escort, in black capital letters. She says while protesters are required by law to stay on the sidewalk outside the fence, they interpret that liberally.

KATHLEEN KNOST: They will go inside the bushes and try to yell at people through the fence.

WIGGINS: Knost walks patients from their cars to the clinic to safely have an abortion, which remains¹¹ legal here for the first six weeks of pregnancy¹².

KNOST: So we have to introduce ourselves right off the bat and then just sort of escort them in, talk to them as you go in so they don't have to listen to these guys yelling at them from the sidewalk.

WIGGINS: Clinic escorts use their bodies, and sometimes even umbrellas, to shield patients. These volunteers are organized by individual clinics and community organizations.

LAUREN RANKIN: It's really this kind of grassroots, ad hoc, collective kind of experience.

WIGGINS: Lauren Rankin is a writer who has covered the history of clinic escorting. Rankin found the first mention of these volunteers in 1978 at a clinic in Fort Wayne, Ind.

RANKIN: No one was doing anything in terms of law enforcement or protecting the clinics, and they had to protect themselves. And that's really sort of the birth of clinic escorting.

WIGGINS: Roe¹³ v. Wade¹⁴ legalized abortion, but that didn't always make it more accessible. In the 1980s, antiabortion activists blockaded abortion sites. Pro-life activists also firebombed clinics in the 1980s. Several doctors doing abortions were murdered in the coming years. Mary Ziegler is a legal scholar at UC Davis who says this resulted in the 1994 Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.

MARY ZIEGLER: And that essentially¹⁵ makes it a pretty serious crime for people to use force or threats of force to impede¹⁶ access to abortion clinics.

WIGGINS: The so-called FACE Act is no longer relevant in the now over 10 states that fully¹⁷ ban abortion. It also doesn't apply after six weeks in the four states where there is a six-week ban in effect, like Ohio. Without clinics, there isn't a need for the traditional clinic escort role. Lauren Rankin says escorts across the country are pivoting¹⁸ to help patients access abortions.

RANKIN: They're shifting their focus to things like practical support. We're going to have to get people not just out of state, but out of entire regions at this point if they're going to get to a clinic.

WIGGINS: Marcee Lichtenwald is a clinic escort in Toledo who says closing clinics won't stop escorts from helping¹⁹ women find the care they need.

MARCEE LICHTENWALD: Right now, we're just - we're going to continue to keep doing what we do and make sure that people are able to access the care that they need.

WIGGINS: Clinic escort Kathleen Knost says that means if she can't walk with patients at a local clinic, she'll drive them across state lines.

KNOST: People are still going to have abortions, and we're going to help out with that. I know I'll be volunteering to give people rides.

WIGGINS: As abortion bans continue to change, the role of clinic escorts will continue to evolve throughout the country.

For NPR News, I'm Leticia Wiggins in Columbus.

(SOUNDBITE OF NITSUA'S "PIANOVERSE")

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 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

3 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。

4 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

5 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

6 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

7 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。

8 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。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

11 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。

12 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。

13 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？

14 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。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 impede   

v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止

参考例句：

• One shouldn't impede other's progress.一个人不应该妨碍他人进步。
• The muddy roads impede our journey.我们的旅游被泥泞的道路阻挠了。

17 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

18 pivoting   

n.绕轴旋转，绕公共法线旋转v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的现在分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开

参考例句：

• Here is a neat YouTube video showing the Gyro's pivoting mechanism. 这里是一个整洁的YouTube视频显示陀螺仪的旋转机制。 来自互联网
• Dart pivoting is widely used in the gannent pattern design. 省道转移的原理在服装纸样设计中应用十分广泛。 来自互联网

19 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。