来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月27日
The decision was not a surprise. Even before the dramatic leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion last month, it was widely predicted that the US supreme court would grab the opportunity presented by the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to rescind the decision made in 1973 in Roe v Wade. This, after all, was the purpose of President Trump’s three supreme court selections – and the culmination of a decades-long campaign by anti-abortionists to return to states the authority to ban the procedure. But the announcement still came as a shock. The US’s global influence means that the decision to remove a woman’s constitutional right to abortion there reverberates far beyond its shores.
这个裁决并不令人意外。甚至在上个月塞缪尔·阿利托大法官的意见书草稿被戏剧性地泄露之前，人们就广泛预测，美国最高法院将抓住多布斯诉杰克逊妇女健康组织案提供的机会，撤销1973年罗伊诉韦德案的判决。毕竟，这是特朗普总统选择三名最高法院大法官的目的，也是反堕胎主义者长达数十年的运动的高潮，他们希望各州重新拥有禁止堕胎的权力。但这一消息仍然令人震惊。美国的全球影响力意味着，取消妇女堕胎的宪法权利的决定，其影响远远超出美国本土。
The speed with which multiple US states reacted is disturbing; already, abortion has been outlawed in 10, with 11 more expected to follow shortly. While all women should be entitled to control their own lives and bodies, there are instances when denying this is particularly cruel. Americans who oppose forced pregnancy and birth now face the horror of rape victims being compelled to become mothers. The US is exceptional in its lack of federal maternity provisions; children as well as parents will suffer the consequences of unwanted additions to their families, with poor people the worst affected.
美国多个州的反应速度令人不安；已经有10个州禁止堕胎，预计不久还会有11个州也禁止堕胎。虽然所有女性都应该有权控制自己的生活和身体，但在某些情况下，否认堕胎权尤其残忍。反对强迫怀孕和分娩的美国人现在面临着强奸受害者被迫成为母亲的恐怖。美国是罕见的缺乏联邦生育规定的国家；孩子和父母都将遭受家庭不必要扩大的后果，穷人受到的影响最严重。
Early signs are that the most extreme Republican legislatures could try to block women from travelling out of state for treatment, and impose further restrictions on care delivered remotely including medication sent by mail. Having relied on Roe v Wade to protect access to abortion for half a century, politicians can no longer do so. Abortion is now set to become a key issue in this autumn’s midterms.
早期迹象表明，最极端的共和党立法机构可能会试图阻止女性前往州外接受堕胎手术，并对远程护理实施进一步限制，包括通过邮件邮寄药物。半个世纪以来，政客们一直依靠罗伊诉韦德案来保护堕胎权，但现在他们再也不能这样做了。堕胎将成为今年秋季中期选举的一个关键问题。
How this pans out will depend on public opinion; polling data suggest that 85% of Americans support legal abortion in some circumstances, and Democrats hope that this could work to their advantage. But the anti-abortion right is a formidable force.
结果如何将取决于公众舆论；民调数据显示，85%的美国人在某些情况下支持合法堕胎，民主党人希望这能对他们有利。但反堕胎的右翼势力是一股强大的力量。
The three liberal justices who dissented said they did so with sorrow for “many millions of American women” and also for the court itself. With this decision, it has chosen to reopen deep wounds. By dismissing Roe v Wade in the way that they did, the court’s hard-right wing has seized control.
三位持不同意见的自由派大法官表示，他们持异议是为“数百万美国女性”感到悲伤，也为最高法院本身感到悲伤。通过这一决定，最高法院选择了重新打开深深的伤口。通过推翻罗伊诉韦德案，最高法院强硬的右翼已经掌握了控制权。
Unprecedented division, and greatly increased hardship and risk for those denied safe healthcare, will be the outcome. While there is reassurance in noting moves elsewhere towards liberalisation, US anti-abortionists are far from unique, as tightened restrictions in Poland and the situation in Northern Ireland show. It is too soon to say whether Trump’s justices and their backers have overreached from an electoral perspective. If there is an early lesson to be drawn, it is that once gained, women’s rights must be constantly defended.
其结果将是前所未有的分裂，以及那些无法获得安全医疗的人面临的困难和风险大幅增加。尽管注意到其他地方的自由化举措让人感到安心，但美国的反堕胎主义者远不是唯一的，波兰和北爱尔兰收紧的限制表明了这一点。从选举的角度来看，特朗普提名的大法官及其支持者是否做得过头了，现在下结论还为时过早。如果有什么早期经验可以借鉴的话，那就是妇女权利一旦获得，就必须不断地得到捍卫。