As the novel coronavirus rages across the US, a new legal battle over abortion is brewing — and its impact is unclear. Led by Texas, several conservative-leaning US states have classified abortions as “nonessential” or elective procedures — meaning they have been delayed under state guidelines for handling the pandemic.
Abortion rights activists have denounced the move as an “ideological” one, and a cynical attempt by anti-abortion groups to use the virus crisis to their own ends. Those rights activists have taken several state governments to court to keep the clinics up and running.
US federal judges on Monday blocked Texas, Ohio and Alabama from including abortion on a list of elective procedures now banned to ensure the stockpile of medical supplies is not depleted as the virus spreads. One said the Supreme Court never mentioned any exceptions when it enshrined a woman’s right to abortion in its 1973 landmark decision in Roe v Wade. For Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood, those courts sent “a clear message to politicians and anti-abortion activists in other states: Exploiting a global pandemic to ban abortion is illegal.”
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
But the tables were turned on Tuesday, when a federal appeals court found in favor of Texas, issuing a temporary stay on the lower court’s ruling — meaning abortions are halted. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hailed the decision, saying in a statement that the appellate ruling “justly prioritizes supplies and personal protective equipment for the medical professionals in need.”
In the US — which now has more coronavirus cases than any other country in the world at 280,000 and mounting — as in other nations, rescheduling elective procedures is the new normal. With protective masks and other gear in short supply, state governments want to be sure nothing goes to waste or is used in a procedure that can wait, like vision correction or plastic surgery.
Medical associations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have called for abortions to remain available. “We’ve warned that the consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health and well-being,” said Skye Perryman, the group’s chief legal and policy officer. McGill Johnson said some women with the financial means to do so may go out of state for an abortion but warned that such a move “increases the risk that they’re exposing themselves and others to the coronavirus.”
Jennifer Dalven, the director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was “not surprising” that some states were seizing the moment to launch a new effort to block abortions. “The states that are now using the COVID-19 crisis to stop people from getting abortion care are the very same states that have a history of passing laws to ban abortion, or using sham rationale to shut clinics,” she said. “We all know that pregnancies don’t stop just because of the health care crisis.”
For the better part of the last 20 years, the US “Bible Belt” that stretches across the South and parts of the Midwest has adopted increasingly restrictive legislation on abortions, forcing many clinics to shut down. Since President Donald Trump took office with the support of a large bloc of evangelical Christian voters he won over with his anti-abortion stance, those states have doubled down.
Some of that legislation has been written in the hope that it will reach the Supreme Court — which, thanks to two Trump appointees, leans decidedly to the right — and serve as a gateway to the overturning of Roe v Wade. A year ago, Alabama adopted a law banning all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. A judge blocked the law from taking effect, but it is still working its way through the courts.
For Alabama gynecologist Yashica Robinson, this latest anti-abortion push, tangentially linked to the coronavirus crisis, follows the same pattern. “After weathering countless attacks from Alabama anti-abortion politicians, we saw the state’s action for exactly what it was: an attempt to attack access to essential health care under the guise of pandemic response,” she said.
(AFP)
隨著新冠病毒持續肆虐美國各地,一場新的墮胎法律攻防戰正在悄悄地醞釀中──其影響目前仍是未知數。由德州率先發難,數個偏保守派的州已將墮胎列為「非必要」或非急需手術──這也意味著,在各州應對武漢肺炎大流行的指導方針下,墮胎手術已被推遲。
墮胎權支持者譴責此措施帶有意識形態,並且痛斥反墮胎團體居心叵測,企圖利用病毒危機達到自身目的。墮胎權支持者遂上法院控告數個州政府,希望能讓人工流產診所繼續營運。
美國聯邦法官在週一阻止德州、俄亥俄州和阿拉巴馬州將墮胎手術列入非急需手術的清單中。非急需手術目前受到禁止,以確保醫療器材儲備不會隨著病毒持續擴散而用罄。一位聯邦法官指出,美國最高法院在一九七三年對《羅伊訴韋德案》作出歷史性判決、保護女性墮胎權不受侵犯時,從未述及任何例外狀況。對美國計劃生育協會代理主席亞莉克西絲‧麥吉爾‧強森而言,這些法院「對政治人物和反墮胎人士送出了很明確的訊息:利用一場全球性大流行來禁止墮胎,這是非法的。」
不過,情勢卻在週二出現逆轉:一間聯邦上訴法院做出了有利德州政府的判決,發出臨時裁定,暫緩執行下級法院的裁決,也就是暫停進行墮胎手術。德州檢察總長肯‧派克斯頓盛讚這項裁定,他在聲明中表示,受理該上訴的法院「公正地讓有需要的醫療專業人員,優先取得物資和個人防護設備。」
美國目前的武漢肺炎病例已達到二十八萬,超過世界其他國家,而且還在持續攀升。如同其他國家,非急需手術改期進行已成為新的常態。隨著口罩和其他配備出現短缺,各州政府都希望能確保物資不被浪費,或是不會在能夠等候的手術中被用掉,例如視力矯正或是整形手術。
許多醫學協會──例如美國婦產科醫師學會(ACOG)──呼籲墮胎手術仍要繼續維持進行。ACOG首席法律與政策執行長絲凱‧佩里曼表示:「我們已經提出警告,無法進行墮胎手術的後果將會對一個人的生活、健康以及福祉造成深遠的影響。」強森則指出,有些具備足夠財力能夠進行手術的女性可能會為了墮胎而離開這些州,但她警告這樣的移動行為「會增加她們將自己和他人暴露在新冠病毒威脅的風險。」
美國公民自由聯盟的生殖自由計畫執行長珍妮佛‧達爾溫表示,某些州政府抓住這個時機發起新的行動阻礙墮胎,「這並不讓人意外」。「現在利用武漢肺炎危機阻止人們進行墮胎手術照護的州,正是當年同樣通過法律禁止墮胎、或是利用假造的理論依據關閉診所的那幾個州。」她說:「我們都知道,懷孕並不會因為健康照護危機發生就停止。」
在過去二十年來大多數的時間裡,橫跨美國南部和中西部部分地區的《聖經》地帶紛紛採取愈趨嚴格的法律來限制墮胎,迫使許多診所關門。美國總統川普曾以反墮胎立場爭取到基督教福音派選民的龐大集團支持,隨著川普上任,這些州更變本加厲。
在這類限制墮胎的法律中,某些制定的目的是為了將爭議拉到最高法院──多虧了川普提名的兩位大法官,最高法院現在明顯偏向保守右派──作為推翻《羅伊訴韋德案》判決的途徑。一年前,阿拉巴馬州政府通過一項禁止所有墮胎手術的法案,強暴以及亂倫懷孕都不例外。一位法官阻止這項法案正式上路,只是這條禁令仍在逐步通過各級法院。
對於阿拉巴馬州的婦科醫生雅西卡‧羅賓森來說,最新的這股反墮胎攻勢其實和新冠病毒危機本身不相關,且依循同一個模式。她表示:「經歷阿拉巴馬州反墮胎政客無數次的攻擊後,我們看穿了州政府的行動:也就是,在全球大流行疫情應變措施的偽裝下,他們企圖攻擊人們基本健康照護所需的資源。」
(台北時報章厚明譯)
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