在美国，一月是各州首府繁忙的月份：新法的实施事宜；为了能有更多的法律出台，国会和立法机构会议反复召开。如若有一政党孤立沦为少数，那么将来的事情就不好办。对于不支持堕胎的人来说，堕胎这一议题的形势对他们最有利不过了：自一月起，在阿肯色州，堕胎服务提供者必须遵循新的检查规定。本月初，犹他州和内布拉斯加州出台法律宣布个人医疗保险计划不涉及堕胎。这些法律伴随着去年颁布的一系列堕胎措施而来，已经开始实行起来。政客们纷纷回归首府，随之而来的是更多的对堕胎的限制措施。

　　Last year saw a surge in social conservatism. It has been said that social issues inspire Americans to vote against their economic interests: a factory worker elects an anti-abortion Republican; in return he gets anti-union laws. Last year the adage was reversed. In 2010 Americans voted for economic austerity; in 2011 they got abortion restrictions. For those who oppose abortion, it was the most promising year in decades. For Barack Obama, it was a headache that looks set to grow worse.

　　美国去年掀起了一波社会保守主义热潮。据说这些社会议题，会激发美国人在投票时，割舍自己的经济利益：一名厂工投票支持了一位反对堕胎的共和党人；作为回报，他得到的是反工会法律。去年这个老生常谈的话题的局面得到了扭转。2010年，美国人支持经济紧缩政策；2011年他们得到限制堕胎法。对于反对堕胎的人来说，这是几十年来最高兴的一年。对于巴拉克.奥巴马而言，让他头疼的堕胎议题，看上去又要“强势回归”了。

　　The Supreme Court long ago ruled, in Roe v Wade, that women have the right to an abortion. Politicians, however, are testing more ways to limit access to one. Such efforts have little hope in Washington, DC, where Democrats control the Senate. Nevertheless, last year Republicans in the House of Representatives tried to bar funding for abortions permanently (a yearly amendment already does as much). They tried to do the same for Planned Parenthood, a chain of health clinics that offer abortions. They even voted to bar funding for a family-planning programme created by Richard Nixon, hardly a raging feminist.

　　美国联邦最高法院对’’柔伊对韦德”的判决距今已很久远，当时的结果是，女性有权利堕胎。然而，政客们正在尝试运用更多办法来限制人去堕胎。这样的努力放到华盛顿基本上是毫无希望的，因为那里的民主党人掌控着参议院。然而，去年众议院的共和党人努力永远禁止资助堕胎（一条年度修订案已经也这样做了。）他们对待美国计划生育联盟的态度一样，后者在美国各地都有提供堕胎的医疗诊所。这些共和党人甚至反对由脾气好的女权主义者理查德.尼克松开创的计划生育项目的集资。

　　As politicians bickered in Washington, state legislatures took action. The year was remarkable for the sheer number of new laws—91, reckons Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Many states barred abortion coverage from the health plans that will be offered on Mr Obama’s new health exchanges. Others banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, arguing that they were shielding fetuses from pain. States made it harder for minors to receive abortions. Nebraska, for example, now requires notarised parental consent. Sam Brownback, the outspoken governor of Kansas, passed the year’s broadest anti-abortion package. More surprising, Indiana was not far behind. In 2010 Mitch Daniels, Indiana’s governor, insisted that fiscal reform was more urgent than a divisive social agenda. In April 2011 he signed a broad anti-abortion bill.

　　正当华盛顿政客们吵得不可开交之际，各州立法机构已经开始采取行动。支持享有堕胎权的古特马赫研究院的伊丽莎白.纳什认为，这一年是非凡的一年，因为新法竟然达到了91条。医保方案将会根据奥巴马新的指示意见呈现出来，而很多州都会把堕胎从中拿掉。其它州持保护胎儿免受痛苦的意见禁止怀孕20周后堕胎。许多州让未成年女性更不容易堕胎。比如内布拉斯加州就要求堕胎必须得到公证确认的父母的同意。直率的堪萨斯州州长山姆.布朗巴克通过了年度波及范围最为广泛的反堕胎配套计划方案。让人更为吃惊的是，印第安纳州也不甘落后。该州州长米奇.丹尼斯坚持认为2010年的财政改革比任何一个存在意见分歧的社会议题都要紧迫。2011年四月他签署了一条内容广泛的反堕胎法案。