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流产
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美国最高法院的裁决
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1973年，美国最高法院宣布当时美国禁止流产的法律现状是违反宪法的(Roe v. Wade)。该法院在重申国家维护健康、维持医学标准和保护潜在生命的同时，确认每一名妇女在3个月内的妊娠有获得流产的权力。只有当胎儿已经发育到有存活能力(也就是在母体子宫外有能力生存)之后，国家可以继续完全禁止流产，为挽救母亲的生命或健康的目的例外。当然，这条法律的姿态决不意味着流产是值得肯定的。该国的最高法院只不过确认使流产刑事化是愚蠢之举，此后，其他许多国家的立法机构做出了相同的结论。
那些确信流产是谋杀的人士不论居住在那里，都仍然有自由为自己的权益反对流产。本应如此，因为强制流产与强制生育都是违背平等、自由和自主理想的。过去，这些理想大多被迫未能实现。确实，流产在那时受到了非常不平等的对待则是无法更改的事实。由于另外的州或国家有较宽松的法律，所以有能力支付旅费的妇女为了流产投奔到那里，却并未获得如其所愿的任何一种安全和合法的流产。这种“流产观光”最终让许多政府窘迫不已。但是，贫穷和未受教育的妇女则继续咀嚼着非意愿分娩的苦果或遭受流产刑事化的祸害。 |
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Abortion
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The US Supreme Court Decision
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In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court declared most then existing American state laws banning abortion to be unconstitutional (Roe v. Wade). The court recognized every woman's right to obtain an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy while reaffirming the right of the state to safeguard health, maintain medical standards, and protect potential life. Only after the fetus has reached viability (i.e., the ability to survive outside the mother's womb) may a state continue to prohibit abortions altogether except for the purpose of preserving the life or health of the mother. This legal stance, of course, by no means implied that abortions were desirable. The highest court of the land merely recognized that it was unwise to make them crimes, and since then legislatures in many other countries have come to the same conclusion.
Those who are convinced that abortion is murder are still free to reject it for themselves, no matter where they live. This is entirely as it should be because
forced abortion as well as forced motherhood are incompatible with the ideals of equality, freedom, and self-determination. In the past, these ideals had to remain largely unrealized. Indeed, when it came to abortion the most blatant inequality was a fact of everyday life. Women who could pay for a trip to another state or another country with more liberal laws were not prevented from having a safe and legal abortion any time they wished. This "abortion tourism" eventually became an embarrassment for many governments. At the same time, the poor and uneducated continued to suffer the consequences of unwanted births or dangerous criminal abortions. |
