美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Texas group that wants to ban abortion nationwide is targeting New Mexico

A Texas group that wants to ban abortion¹ nationwide is targeting New Mexico

Transcript²

A nationwide movement to enact³ local ordinances⁵ against abortion drugs has New Mexico's attorney general taking action. A fight in the courts may be just what abortion opponents want.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The group that wants to ban abortion nationwide is targeting New Mexico. Abortion remains⁶ legal in that state. But the group from neighboring Texas is trying to change that. They encourage local governments in New Mexico to write local laws restricting abortion. KUNM's Alice Fordham reports on that effort and the reaction.

ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE⁷: Last June, after the Supreme⁸ Court overturned Roe⁹ V. Wade¹⁰, Whole Woman's Health started fundraising to move their Texas operations to New Mexico. They looked at cities close to Texas, like Clovis and Hobbs. But those cities are conservative. By November, Hobbs was debating an ordinance⁴ strictly¹¹ limiting access. Resident Henry DeLara stepped up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HENRY DELARA: We can make a statement that, no, not here in this county, not here in this city and, eventually, not here in this state.

FORDHAM: The rule passed the council unanimously.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

FORDHAM: Before long, other cities and counties followed.

LAURA WIGHT: It's funny when I look back on it. And it's sort of like, man, it all happened really quickly.

FORDHAM: Laura Wight is a university librarian in Clovis. She supports abortion access and organizes with a group called Eastern New Mexico Rising. Last summer, she realized anti-abortion campaigners from Texas were holding rallies in churches. Then...

WIGHT: One of the churches was going to bring this issue to the city commission as wanting to try and put forward this sanctuary¹² city ordinance.

FORDHAM: These ordinances are similar to ones in Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Nebraska. That's because the Texan group, Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn, helps local officials write rules. It's led by Mark Lee Dickson, who says he only got more active after Roe was overturned.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK LEE DICKSON: My life ended up getting way busier.

(LAUGHTER)

FORDHAM: After he led a meeting in a church in the city of Rio Rancho last month, he explained the ordinances cite a federal law from the 1800s known as the Comstock Act, after famed anti-vice campaigner Anthony Comstock, who lobbied for an act which bans the mailing of pornography, sex toys and drugs that could be used for an abortion.

DICKSON: Anthony Comstock would be pleased at how this law that bears his name is being used, because if he was alive today, he would be disgusted.

FORDHAM: Dickson calls ordinances banning mailing of abortion medication de facto abortion bans. In New Mexico, he's facing a particularly concerted counter effort. There's a proposed state law to stop public bodies from interfering¹³ with reproductive care. And there's the state attorney general, a Democrat¹⁴, Raul Torrez. He filed a legal challenge.

RAUL TORREZ: Asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to stop the enforcement of those local ordinances.

FORDHAM: Because, he says, local governments don't regulate health care in that way. He wants the court to...

TORREZ: Finally articulate the constitutional basis for a woman's right to reproductive health care, not grounded in the federal constitution, but in the state constitution.

FORDHAM: Torrez also points out the U.S. Department of Justice released a memo¹⁵ last year saying the Comstock Act doesn't prohibit the mailing of legal abortion medication. Other attorneys general have challenged local ordinances and refused to enforce old abortion bans. But Torrez is the first to take on Mark Lee Dickson, who welcomes his challenge.

DICKSON: This is not something that they should take lightly, for sure, that this is a real possibility that their actions could lead to the end of abortion in every single state in America.

FORDHAM: What could happen is that the local authorities could seek to take the case to federal court, which could eventually land it in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which legal scholars think could interpret the law to mean no one can mail abortion medication or even related medical equipment. Mary Ziegler, a historian and law professor at the University of California, Davis, says there's an argument that...

MARY ZIEGLER: This is a trap - right? - that these ordinances are designed to provoke litigation that will do nothing but harm for abortion rights in states like New Mexico. And, you know, I mean, I think that's a real possibility given who's on the Supreme Court.

FORDHAM: Attorney General Torrez acknowledges the risk, but says it's a matter of principle.

TORREZ: We can't be retreating every time because we are trying to predict how ideology¹⁶ or politics is infecting the judicial¹⁷ branch. We can't.

FORDHAM: New Mexico's Supreme Court has not yet set a date to hear Torrez's challenge. But next door in Texas, another Comstock case is ongoing¹⁸. As Mark Lee Dickson says, the end of Roe is far from the end of a highly strategic legal battle against abortion.

For NPR News, I'm Alice Fordham in Santa Fe.

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 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

4 ordinance   

n.法令；条令；条例

参考例句：

• The Ordinance of 1785 provided the first land grants for educational purposes.1785年法案为教育目的提供了第一批土地。
• The city passed an ordinance compelling all outdoor lighting to be switched off at 9.00 PM.该市通过一条法令强令晚上九点关闭一切室外照明。

5 ordinances   

n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These points of view, however, had not been generally accepted in building ordinances. 然而，这些观点仍未普遍地为其他的建筑条例而接受。 来自辞典例句
• Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. 诗119:156耶和华阿、你的慈悲本为大．求你照你的典章将我救活。 来自互联网

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 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？

10 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。

11 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

12 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

13 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

14 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

15 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

16 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

17 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

18 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。