2016年经济学人 美国堕胎问题 重返公堂(下)（在线收听）

The Supreme Court itself has already endorsed limits after 24 weeks, the point at which a fetus is considered to be viable outside the womb, putting it squarely alongside public opinion.

最高法院本身已赞同怀孕24周后禁止堕胎，因为此时胎儿在子宫外可存活。最高法院的态度正好与近来的民意一致。

The best way forward would be to pass legislation to this effect.

要达到该目的，如今最好的办法就是立法。

But there is no chance of that, because the two sides are farther apart than ever, with some pro-choice groups arguing that abortion is an absolute right that cannot be restricted under any circumstances, and their pro-life opponents retorting that all abortions are acts of murder.

但这几乎不可能，因为重选择与重生命双方在堕胎问题上的分歧比以往更大。重选择的一方认为堕胎是一种绝对权利，在任何情况下都不能被限制；而重生命的一方则反驳，认为所有的堕胎都是谋杀行为。

The shift to the extremes has been most noticeable among Republicans.

走极端这种问题在共和党内最为明显。

Marco Rubio, who currently looks a good bet to win his party's presidential nomination, is in favour of any law that promises to reduce the number of abortions, even one without exclusions for rape or incest.

目前最有可能赢得共和党总统提名的马克罗·鲁比奥，支持任何承诺能减少堕胎数量的法律，即使那份法案没有排除强奸和乱伦。

In the past four years state legislatures have put in place 231 restrictions on abortions—more than in the whole of the previous decade.

在过去的四年里，州议会已实施了231项限制堕胎的规定，比过去十年加起来的都多。

Bill of rights

权利法案

To make abortion safe, legal and rare remains a good aim for America's laws.

使堕胎的安全化、合法化及减少堕胎仍是美国法律追求的目标。

But closing legal abortion clinics does nothing for safety, whatever the proponents of the Texan law claim.

不管德州堕胎法的支持者怎么说，关闭合法的堕胎诊所对堕胎的安全性没有任何帮助。

If such restrictions are adopted more widely, abortion will, in practice, become illegal in many places, leading to the return of dangerous, clandestine procedures.

如果更多地区采用这些限制条例，那么堕胎实际上在很多地方将不合法，而那些危险隐秘的堕胎程序将回归，

It will not necessarily become rarer.

堕胎不一定会更少。

Whatever the law, abortions will be carried out.

不管法律怎么限制，堕胎总会存在。

The appeals court which upheld HB2 earlier this year acknowledged as much when it wrote that Texans who wanted an abortion could in future drive to New Mexico.

今年年初，支持HB2的上诉法院指出，想要堕胎的德州人未来可以开车到新墨西哥州进行，这样的论调也承认了法律限制堕胎的有限作用。

Factors other than its legality are more important in lowering the abortion rate.

相比堕胎的合法性，其他因素对降低堕胎率的作用更为重大。

Between 2002 and 2011—just before some states began to pile on restrictions—America's abortion rate dropped by 14%, largely because the rate of teenage pregnancy fell.

2002年至2011年间，即一些州出台堕胎限制条令之前，美国的堕胎率下降14%，这主要是因为少女怀孕率降低了。

That nine unelected justices can do a better job of reflecting what America, in aggregate, favours than thousands of elected politicians in Washington or state capitols—as they did when ruling for gay marriage—is a painful indictment of American politics.

总的来说，与华盛顿或州议会选举出的数千名政客相较，最高法院那9名未经选举的法官似乎更能理解与反映美国所推崇的文化。正如在裁决同性婚姻问题时他们的做法一般。那是对美国政治活动的控诉，

It is nevertheless true.

尽管有点痛苦，却是真的。

Despite the reaction it will provoke, the court should strike down HB2.

不管会引发什么连锁反应，最高法院都应该驳回HB2。