美国国家公共电台 NPR--Federal appeals court in New Orleans considers the fate of an abortion pill

Federal appeals court in New Orleans considers the fate of an abortion¹ pill

Transcript²

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans will hear arguments Wednesday over access to a commonly used abortion pill.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The abortion pill known as mifepristone, or Mifeprex, is at the center of another court case that could end up at the Supreme³ Court.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Today, attorneys are gathering⁴ in New Orleans at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to argue a case that could remove this medication from the U.S. market completely. Together with misoprostol, it's a medication that's been used for decades to manage miscarriages⁵ and provide abortions⁶. It's now the most common method of abortion across the U.S.

FADEL: NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin is here to lay out what this lawsuit⁷ is about and what's happening today. Hi, Selena.

SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE⁸: Hi. Morning, Leila.

FADEL: Good morning. OK, so jog people's memories here. This is a case that started in Texas and was all over the news last month.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah, exactly. So it's a case filed originally in a district court in Amarillo, Texas. A conservative group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine is challenging the FDA's original approval of the medication more than 20 years ago. And early last month, a federal judge named Matthew Kacsmaryk agreed with the full argument and would have put a hold on the approval of mifepristone as the legal case proceeded, which caused a huge reaction, as you might remember.

FADEL: Right.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: This medication is used for abortion and miscarriages regularly. And for about a week, no one knew if it was about to get pulled off of the shelves. So finally, the Supreme Court intervened, and mifepristone is still available for now.

FADEL: And what happens today?

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Today, there will be oral arguments in the case. A panel of three judges in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear each side's arguments.

Yesterday, I spoke⁹ with Erik Baptist, an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney who is challenging FDA's approval process for mifepristone.

ERIK BAPTIST: We will urge the court to uphold everything that the district court held that the approval in 2000 for mifepristone was unlawful for multiple reasons.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Those reasons have to do with the procedures the FDA followed and safety issues, he says.

I also spoke yesterday with Rabia Muqaddam, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is not part of the lawsuit, but supports the Department of Justice's defense¹⁰ of mifepristone. She says the plaintiffs have put forth¹¹ junk science to support their arguments.

RABIA MUQADDAM: The other aspect of this case that is really preposterous¹² is that none of the plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are actually suffering any harm, so they don't have standing¹³ to bring this case.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: The oral arguments are happening this afternoon in a federal courtroom in New Orleans, and audio from the hearing will be livestreamed and open to the public.

FADEL: So any predictions about what's going to happen?

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Well, the 5th Circuit is known as a conservative court, and this panel of three judges has already shown in their earlier decision last month that they're persuaded by at least some of the challengers' arguments. For instance, they used the term chemical abortion in that ruling, which is an anti-abortion movement term that the plaintiffs use to describe the use of this medication, which is pretty charged language. So the pharmaceutical¹⁴ industry and reproductive rights supporters and former FDA officials, who all support mifepristone, are bracing¹⁵ for a decision that says access should be limited, at least in some way. And this case is about mifepristone everywhere, not just in states that limit abortion, so the stakes are huge.

FADEL: Yeah, the stakes are huge. Could anything change right away?

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Probably not. The Supreme Court has put a hold on any changes to access to mifepristone for a good long while. OB-GYNs say patients are quite confused about this, so this is an important thing to emphasize - mifepristone remains¹⁶ legal and available right now. Attorneys in this case expect a ruling from these judges in the next few weeks or months. It will almost certainly be appealed to the Supreme Court, which may hear arguments in the fall and issue a decision next spring, but that's all just a guess. Anything can happen.

FADEL: NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin, I'm sure you'll be back soon to talk about the continuing legal back-and-forth on this. Thanks so much.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Thank you.

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 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 miscarriages   

流产( miscarriage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Miscarriages are usually caused by abnormal chromosome patterns in the fetus. 流产通常是因为胎儿的染色体异常造成的。
• Criminals go unpunishedareconvicted and are miscarriages of justice. 罪犯会逍遥法外，法律会伤及无辜，审判不公时有发生。

6 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

7 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

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 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。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 preposterous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的

参考例句：

• The whole idea was preposterous.整个想法都荒唐透顶。
• It would be preposterous to shovel coal with a teaspoon.用茶匙铲煤是荒谬的。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

15 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

16 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。