2022年11月29日 VOA慢速英语：尽管有妊娠并发症，一些妇女仍拒绝堕胎

 
It has been five months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The ruling ended a 50-year-old legal right to abortion nationwide. Instead, individual states now decide on whether to permit, limit or ban the medical procedure to end a pregnancy.
美国最高法院推翻 Roe v. Wade 案已经五个月了。该裁决结束了全国范围内已有 50 年历史的堕胎合法权利。相反，各个州现在决定是否允许、限制或禁止终止妊娠的医疗程序。
 
Some doctors in states with restrictive abortion laws say they have sent more patients go somewhere else than ever before. Some women are facing harmful, possibly deadly, delays. Doctors say they are forced to balance medical judgment with possible punishments, including prison time.
有限制堕胎法的州的一些医生说，他们把更多的病人送到其他地方去的人数比以往任何时候都多。一些女性面临着有害的，甚至可能是致命的延误。医生说，他们被迫在医学判断与可能的惩罚（包括入狱时间）之间取得平衡。
 
Weeks after the overturn of Roe, Dr. Grace Ferguson treated a woman whose water had broken halfway through pregnancy. The baby would never survive, and the patient's chance of developing a possibly life-threatening infection grew with every hour.
在 Roe 手术被推翻几周后，格蕾丝·弗格森 (Grace Ferguson) 医生治疗了一名怀孕中期破水的妇女。婴儿将永远无法存活，并且患者发生可能危及生命的感染的机会每小时都在增加。
 
The woman had already spent two days at a hospital in West Virginia before she saw Ferguson in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. She was not able to get an abortion in West Virginia because the state bans the procedure except in the case of a medical emergency. The patient's life was not in danger at that exact time, so doctors did not operate.
在她在邻近的宾夕法尼亚州见到弗格森之前，这名妇女已经在西弗吉尼亚州的一家医院住了两天。她无法在西弗吉尼亚州堕胎，因为该州禁止该程序，除非出现紧急医疗情况。当时患者没有生命危险，因此医生没有进行手术。
 
At the hospital in Pennsylvania, where abortion is legal, Ferguson was able to induce labor to end the pregnancy.
在堕胎合法的宾夕法尼亚州医院，弗格森成功引产终止妊娠。
 
How close to death must the patient be?
病人离死亡有多近？
 
Although even the strictest laws permit abortion to save a mother's life, a serious question remains: How close to death must the patient be? "You don't automatically go from living to dead," Ferguson said. "You slowly get sicker and sicker."
尽管即使是最严格的法律也允许堕胎以挽救母亲的生命，但一个严重的问题仍然存在：患者离死亡有多近？ “你不会自动从生到死，”弗格森说。 “你的病情会慢慢加重。”
 
It is impossible to say when that line is crossed, said Dr. Alison Haddock. She is on the board of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Alison Haddock 博士说，无法确定何时会越过这条线。她是美国急诊医师学会的董事会成员。
 
"There's just no moment where I'm standing in front of a critically ill patient where I know: OK, before their health was just in danger. But now, their life is in danger," she said.
“我站在危重病人面前的每一刻都让我知道：好吧，在他们的健康状况刚刚好之前危险。但现在，他们的生命处于危险之中，”她说。
 
Experts say it is hard to know the number of abortion denials when serious complications happen. Employers often tell their health care workers not to speak about such cases. Even still, The Associated Press reached several doctors and patients who shared stories of such denials.
专家表示，当发生严重并发症时，很难知道有多少人拒绝堕胎。雇主经常告诉他们的医护人员不要谈论此类案例。尽管如此，美联社还是联系到了几位医生和患者，他们分享了这种否认的故事。
 
Many doctors and researchers agree that evidence shows it is a widespread problem. In Texas, for example, a doctors' association sent a letter to the state's medical board saying some hospitals refused to treat patients with major complications because of the state's abortion ban.
许多医生和研究人员都认为有证据表明这是一个普遍存在的问题。例如，在得克萨斯州，一个医生协会致函该州的医疗委员会，称由于该州的堕胎禁令，一些医院拒绝治疗有严重并发症的患者。
 
Dr. Cara Heuser is a maternal-fetal specialist in Utah. She recalled one patient who was denied an abortion in the neighboring state of Idaho despite developing a serious heart condition halfway through pregnancy. The woman had to be sent to Utah for the procedure.
Cara Heuser 博士是犹他州的母胎专家。她回忆起一位在邻近的爱达荷州被拒绝堕胎的病人，尽管她在怀孕中途出现了严重的心脏病。该妇女必须被送往犹他州进行手术。
 
Dr. Lauren Miller is a maternal-fetal specialist in Idaho's capital of Boise. She said she often sees patients whose water breaks at 15 through 19 weeks of pregnancy. All that doctors can do is help them make the difficult decision: "Do they stay here for their care and just wait until something bad happens, or do we facilitate them finding care out of state?"
Lauren Miller 博士是爱达荷州首府博伊西的母胎专家。她说她经常看到病人在怀孕 15 到 19 周时破水。医生所能做的就是帮助他们做出艰难的决定：“他们是留在这里接受治疗，等到坏事发生，还是我们帮助他们在州外寻找治疗？”
 
Dr.劳伦·米勒 (Lauren Miller) 是爱达荷州首府博伊西的一名母胎专家。她说她经常看到病人在怀孕 15 到 19 周时破水。医生所能做的就是帮助他们做出艰难的决定：“他们是留在这里接受治疗，等到坏事发生，还是我们帮助他们在州外寻找治疗？”
 
The stories are similar when pregnancy is complicated by cancer. About 1 in 1,000 pregnant women find out they have cancer each year.
当怀孕因癌症而复杂化时，情况是相似的。每年大约有千分之一的孕妇发现自己患有癌症。
 
Dr. Karen Knudsen is chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. She said some cancer doctors have questions about treating pregnant cancer patients, especially when therapies may cause miscarriage.
Dr. Karen Knudsen 是美国癌症协会的首席执行官。她说，一些癌症医生对治疗怀孕的癌症患者有疑问，尤其是当治疗可能导致流产时。
 
Some abortion opponents say doctors may be unnecessarily denying abortions in life-threatening situations out of fear.
一些反对堕胎的人说，医生可能会出于恐惧而不必要地拒绝在危及生命的情况下进行堕胎。
 
It comes down to intent
归结为意图
 
Dr. Patti Giebink is a former abortion doctor who described changing her opinion about the procedure in her book Unexpected Choice: An Abortion Doctor's Journey to Pro-Life. She said it comes down to intent. If you intend to save the mother and not end the life of the fetus, she said, "you're doing good medicine."
博士。帕蒂·吉宾克 (Patti Giebink) 是一名前堕胎医生，她在她的书《意想不到的选择：一名堕胎医生的反堕胎之旅》中描述了她对堕胎手术的看法的改变。她说这归结为意图。如果你打算拯救母亲而不是结束胎儿的生命，她说，“你是在做良药。”
 
"We're sort of in a period of time where all these questions come up," she said. "The legislatures are going to be working to solve some of these problems."
“我们正处于所有这些问题都出现的时期，”她说。 “立法机关将努力解决其中的一些问题。”
 
Dr. Paul LaRose is a member of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He said he thinks the issue is overstated.
Dr. Paul LaRose 是美国 Pro-Life 妇产科医师协会的成员。他说他认为这个问题被夸大了。
 
"Most pro-life physicians would take care of the mother and do what's necessary without purposely taking the life of the unborn baby," LaRose said.
“大多数反堕胎医生会照顾母亲并做必要的事情，而不是故意夺走未出生婴儿的生命，”LaRose 说。
 
But some women say restrictive abortion laws have put them in danger.
但一些女性表示，限制性堕胎法使她们处于危险之中。
Denied care
拒绝护理
 
Mylissa Farmer is from Joplin, Missouri. In August, her water broke 17 and a half weeks into her pregnancy. She went to the emergency room. Tests showed she had lost all her amniotic fluid. The fetus she and her boyfriend had named Maeve was not expected to survive.
Mylissa Farmer 来自密苏里州的乔普林。 8 月，她在怀孕 17 个半星期后破水了。她去了急诊室。测试显示她已经失去了所有的羊水。她和男友取名为 Maeve 的胎儿预计无法存活。
Despite risks of infection and blood loss, she could not get an abortion. The fetus still had a heartbeat. Doctors told her Missouri law superseded their judgment, medical records show.
尽管有感染和失血的风险，她还是无法堕胎。胎儿还有心跳。医疗记录显示，医生告诉她密苏里州法律取代了他们的判断。
 
She tried for days to get an out-of-state abortion, but many hospitals said they could not take her. In the end, an abortion helpline connected Farmer with a medical center in Granite City, Illinois. She drove more than four hours from home — while in labor — and had the procedure.
几天来，她一直试图在州外堕胎，但许多医院都说他们不能接受她。最后，堕胎帮助热线将 Farmer 与伊利诺伊州格拉尼特城的一家医疗中心联系起来。她从家里开车四个多小时——在分娩时——接受了手术。
 
News organizations reported on Farmer's story. She appeared in a political advertisement. Later, the Missouri health department started an investigation into whether the Joplin hospital had violated federal law. The state has shared its early findings with the federal government.
新闻机构报道了 Farmer 的故事。她出现在一则政治广告中。随后，密苏里州卫生部门开始调查乔普林医院是否违反了联邦法律。该州已与联邦政府分享其早期调查结果。
 
Farmer said the experience was deeply traumatic. She decided to take a permanent step to make sure nothing like this happens to her again.
法默说，这段经历非常痛苦。她决定采取永久措施，以确保类似的事情不会再发生在她身上。
 
She got her tubes tied. The procedure prevents her from getting pregnant in the future.
她把管子绑起来了。该程序可防止她将来怀孕。