美国堕胎率上升
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
A new report says the number and rate of abortions in the United States increased from 2017 to 2020, after a long period of decline. An abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy.
The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that supports abortion rights. It released its latest report about abortions in the United States on Wednesday. The researchers counted more than 930,000 abortions in the nation in 2020. That is up from about 862,000 abortions in 2017. That was when national abortion numbers reached their lowest point since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. About one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, the report found. The report's release comes as the Supreme Court appears ready to overturn its 1973 ruling.
The number of women seeking abortions demonstrates a need for the procedure, said Sara Rosenbaum. She is a health law and policy professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She added that the report shows "how devastating a Supreme Court decision is going to be for access to an absolutely vital service."
Medication abortions, sometimes called the "abortion pill," accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2020. That was the first time they made up more than half of abortions, Guttmacher said in its report. The COVID-19 pandemic may have pushed down the numbers in some states, the report said.
In New York, abortions increased from 2017 to 2019, then fell 6 percent between 2019 and 2020. One in 10 clinics in New York suspended or stopped abortion care in 2020. Texas saw a 2 percent decrease between 2019 and 2020, because of pandemic-related abortion restrictions in the state. Experts say the pandemic may also have limited the availability of birth control and other forms of contraception. It also may have prevented women from attending all the health care visits involved in a pregnancy. But abortions already were increasing before the pandemic began.
One important factor is that some states expanded Medicaid access to abortion. Medicaid is a government program that provides health care to people in need. Illinois, for example, began permitting state Medicaid money to pay for abortions starting in January 2018. The state saw abortions increase 25 percent between 2017 and 2020. In neighboring Missouri, abortions dropped sharply. But the number of Missouri residents traveling to Illinois for abortions increased.
Carol Tobias is president of the National Right to Life Committee, which opposes abortion. She said, "If states are paying for abortions, I hope they are also looking at how to support childbirth, so a woman doesn't think abortion is the best or only option."
Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every three years. Its numbers are considered more complete than data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC does not include several states like California, the nation's most populous state.
In 2020, fewer women were getting pregnant and a larger amount of them chose abortion, the researchers found. The abortion rate in 2020 was 14.4 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. That is an increase from 13.5 per 1,000 women in 2017.
I'm Dan Novak.
VOCABULARY
1. abortion n. the deliberate ending of a pregnancy at an early stage 人工流产
2. overturn v. to officially decide that a legal decision etc. is not correct, and to make it no longer valid 推翻，撤销（判决等）
3. devastating adj. extremely shocking to a person 令人震惊的；骇人的
4. clinic n. a building or part of a hospital where people can go for special medical treatment or advice 诊所；（医院的）门诊部
5. suspend v. to officially stop sth. for a time; to prevent sth. from being active, used, etc. for a time 暂停
6. expand v. to become greater in size, number or importance; to make sth. greater in size, number or importance 扩大，增加
QUESTIONS
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
1. A new report says the number and rate of abortions in the United States increased from 2017 to 2020.
2. The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that opposes abortion rights.
3. About 20% pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, the report found.
4. Sara Rosenbaum is an abortion law and policy professor at George Washington University.
5. Medication abortions accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2021.
6. Texas saw a 2 percent decrease between 2019 and 2020 because of pandemic-related abortion restrictions in the state.
7. Medicaid is a non-government program that provides health care to people in need.
8. Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every four years.
KEY
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
(T) 1. A new report says the number and rate of abortions in the United States increased from 2017 to 2020.
(F) 2. The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that opposes abortion rights. （正确表达）The Guttmacher Institute is a research group that supports abortion rights.
(T) 3. About 20% pregnancies ended in abortion in 2020, the report found.
(F) 4. Sara Rosenbaum is an abortion law and policy professor at George Washington University.（正确表达）Sara Rosenbaum is a health law and policy professor at George Washington University.
(F) 5. Medication abortions accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2021. （正确表达）Medication abortions accounted for 54 percent of U.S. abortions in 2020.
(T) 6. Texas saw a 2 percent decrease between 2019 and 2020 because of pandemic-related abortion restrictions in the state.
(F) 7. Medicaid is a non-government program that provides health care to people in need. （正确表达）Medicaid is a government program that provides health care to people in need.
(F) 8. Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every four years. （正确表达）Guttmacher carries out the nation's largest survey of abortion providers every three years.
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