美国国家公共电台 NPR Why The Abortion Rate In Pakistan Is One Of The World's Highest

Why The Abortion² Rate In Pakistan Is One Of The World's Highest

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

This next story takes us to Pakistan, a deeply conservative Muslim country where doctors routinely refuse to undertake abortions³. But it is estimated to have one of the highest rates of abortions in the world - 50 abortions for every 1,000 women. That is more than three times higher than the rate in the United States. A warning - this story may be disturbing for some listeners. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from Abbottabad.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE⁴: When Mehnaz was 19, she fell pregnant for the fifth time. She already had four daughters. Her husband was threatening to throw her out if she had another girl.

MEHNAZ: (Through translator) When I learned about the pregnancy⁵, my heart sank in fear.

HADID: She knew a midwife who undertook abortions, but only to end pregnancies⁶ that were already troubled. So she tried to sabotage⁷ her own.

MEHNAZ: (Through translator) I kept taking tablets, whatever I laid my hands on. I lifted heavy things.

HADID: She points to the heavy furniture in her tiny living room - like that, she says. She drank brews⁸ of boiled dates. Many Pakistanis believe it triggers labor⁹.

MEHNAZ: (Through translator) Then there was a terrible pain in my stomach. My husband took me to the midwife. She told him the baby was dead. She gave me injections, and it came out.

HADID: That was her first abortion. Mehnaz is now 27. She's got six daughters and one son. She's also had three abortions. She tried to have a fourth by taking pills, but the attempt failed. In Pakistan, many women are pressured to abort¹ fetuses¹⁰ they fear are female because they face rejection¹¹ if they have too many daughters. They are seen as an economic burden. But that's not the only reason why they're having so many abortions.

XAHER GUL: For the most part, women don't have access.

HADID: This is Xaher Gul. He's a public health expert and adviser¹² on family planning policy. He says women can't get contraception.

GUL: The system is, I would say, disconnected. There are no service providers. If there are service providers, they're not trained. If they are trained, they don't have access to commodities. If they have commodities, they are not good at counseling women. If they are good at counseling women, there is bad follow-up and bad management of side effects.

HADID: Consider Mehnaz's experience. She's illiterate¹³ and didn't know about contraception, but she gave birth seven times in a hospital and clearly said she didn't want to have any more children. But nobody there educated her about her options. Worse - after she had her last child, she begged doctors to sterilize¹⁴ her, and they refused.

MEHNAZ: (Through translator) The doctors said I had to get a permission letter signed by my husband, but he won't sign. He says it's a sin.

HADID: Gul, the public health expert, says this is why Pakistan has a thriving underground abortion industry. But the thing is abortion is acceptable in Islam, and it's legal in Pakistan if a woman's health is in danger or if there's a need for it. That need isn't defined, so there's lots of wiggle room. But culturally, it's not OK, so most hospitals will only do them in urgent cases.

GUL: Because they refuse to perform the service, medical doctors themselves for the most part have pushed women in need of therapeutic¹⁵ abortions into back alleys¹⁷.

HADID: Literally¹⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF BABIES CRYING)

HADID: We went to a back alley¹⁶ in a slum to meet an abortion provider, Mumtaz Begum. She's about 60. She charges between $25 and $70 for an abortion.

MUMTAZ BEGUM: (Through translator) I'm not educated, but I have a lot of experience.

HADID: Begum's clinic is dank, and the pink paint peels off the walls. There's a dusty table piled with medicines, a bag of onions and a stack of Qurans, the Muslim holy book. Begum also leads pilgrimages to holy sites. And she says, because she's devout¹⁹, she'll only do abortions for women whose pregnancies are already in trouble. Otherwise, she believes it's murder.

BEGUM: (Through translator) I don't help with murder, but if there is a necessity - for instance, if the woman is bleeding - then I clean out her womb.

HADID: What's clear in the interview with Begum and other abortion providers is that most of them expect women to look desperate. And like Mehnaz, women will hurt themselves to get help. That, combined with the lack of hygiene²⁰ and training, makes abortions in Pakistan dangerous and sometimes deadly. This is Gul.

GUL: Nearly about a fifth of the women who die because of pregnancy-related complications die because of unsafe or less-safe abortions.

HADID: That's thousands of women every year.

(SOUNDBITE OF CALL TO PRAYER OVER LOUDSPEAKERS)

HADID: Gul directs us to a clinic run by an organization that offers contraception and safe, legal abortions. We aren't naming them out of concerns they'll be harassed²¹. The Muslim call to prayer echoes outside.

(SOUNDBITE OF CALL TO PRAYER OVER LOUDSPEAKERS)

HADID: Inside, we meet Asma. She only gives us her first name. She's 32, a conservative Muslim. And she wears a long black robe and covers her hair and face with a black veil. She's got four kids, and she's waiting for an ultrasound to see if she's pregnant again.

ASMA: (Through translator) When I'm pregnant, I can't walk. I can't stand. I vomit²² all the time. My body swells²³ up.

HADID: If she finds out she's pregnant, she'll get an abortion here. She feels there's no conflict between her faith and her need to terminate her pregnancy.

ASMA: (Through translator) I have to look after my life as well. I have other children to take care of.

HADID: Mehnaz, who we meet at the start of the story who's already had three abortions, can only dream of that kind of service. She lives in fear of falling pregnant again. Her husband won't use contraception and refuses to stop having sex with her. He also constantly threatens to throw her out if she has another daughter.

MEHNAZ: (Foreign language spoken).

HADID: "I'm stuck," she says. "This society doesn't let women live."

Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Abbottabad.

(SOUNDBITE OF OLDTWIG'S "DUNES")-

1 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

2 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。

3 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

4 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。

5 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。

6 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

7 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

8 brews   

n.（尤指某地酿造的）啤酒( brew的名词复数 )；酿造物的种类；（茶）一次的冲泡量；（不同思想、环境、事件的）交融v.调制( brew的第三人称单数 )；酝酿；沏（茶）；煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• He brews beer at home. 他在家里酿造啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They produce the country's best brews of beer. 他们生产该国的佳酿啤酒。 来自辞典例句

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 fetuses   

n.胎，胎儿( fetus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• DNA was extracted from fetuses at mid-gestation, about 10 days past conception. DNA从受孕大约10天后的中期妊娠胚胎中提取。 来自互联网
• Brucellosis is a disease that causes fetuses to abort in cattle. 普鲁士菌病是一种可以导致牲畜胎儿夭折的疾病。 来自互联网

11 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

14 sterilize   

vt.使不结果实；使绝育；使无效；杀菌，消毒

参考例句：

• Antiseptic is used to sterilize the skin before giving an injection.杀菌剂被用于在注射前给皮肤消毒。
• He pricks the blister on his heel with a sterilize needle.他用一根消过毒的针扎破他脚后跟上的水泡。

15 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

16 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

17 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

18 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

19 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

20 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

21 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

22 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

23 swells   

增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The waters were heaving up in great swells. 河水正在急剧上升。
• A barrel swells in the middle. 水桶中部隆起。