200多名国会议员呼吁最高法院考虑推翻罗伊诉韦德案美国各地的堕胎权利组织都在为2020年可能是美国废除堕胎权的一年做准备。
上周，几十名共和党议员，加上两名民主党代表，签署了一份友好的简报，要求最高法院考虑推翻1973年的决定，该决定在此后的几十年里保护了美国的堕胎权。
在接受采访时新闻周刊，国家生殖健康研究所所长安德里亚·米勒说，这项裁决很有可能被撤销。然而，她说，即使最高法院最终推翻了罗伊，这并不意味着堕胎权利倡导者的战斗失败了。
“最高法院很重要。这很重要，”米勒说。"但是，它没有最终的决定权."她说，最终权力将掌握在国家手中，在一个没有国家的世界里罗伊，会有更多的权力去“伤害”或“做好事”
“看看美国”
米勒说:“无论最高法院做什么，关注各州都很重要。”。
在过去的一年里，全国各州都在竞相引入新的立法，以加强或削弱堕胎法，因为预计到有可能鱼卵可能被最高法院推翻。
当然，这种匆忙是由现在的布雷特·卡瓦诺法官被提名并随后被最高法院确认的。
随着反堕胎州的立法者确信卡瓦诺将会获得反堕胎的地位，并受到这样一个事实的鼓舞，即在他的确认下，最高法院将会拥有保守的多数，许多人匆忙引入严格的新法律，有些人几乎完全禁止堕胎。
米勒说:“对人们来说，了解过去一年和最近几年发生的袭击数量非常重要。”。然而，她说，尽管2019年全国各地签署的反堕胎法律激增，但支持堕胎的倡导者也看到了“明显的势头”。
国家卫生研究院周一发布的一项新研究揭示了这一趋势，该研究名为“取得进展”
尽管该研究指出，2019年“各州政府做出了前所未有的努力来限制或消除堕胎途径”，但它也指出，49个州和特区颁布了“创纪录的147项法案，以保护和扩大2019年的生殖自由。”
接入的“拼凑”
该研究称，2019年促进堕胎的努力已经超过了“前五年的每一年”。
例如，在伊利诺斯州、纽约州、罗德岛州和佛蒙特州，州领导“颁布法律，将做出生殖健康保健决定的基本权利，包括堕胎的决定，编成法典，”报告指出。同时，“内华达州将自我管理堕胎合法化，这样妇女就不会因为终止妊娠而面临被起诉的风险。”
报告指出，另外四个州也颁布了旨在促进堕胎的法律，例如，加州要求公立大学在校内学生健康中心提供药物堕胎服务。同年，新泽西州启动了保密计划，允许病人和服务提供者要求对他们的地址保密。
米勒说，最终，即使鱼卵在这里，“重要的是要记住，多年来，我们已经生活在一个真正的人工流产的拼凑下。”
“因此，在许多地方，我们已经有堕胎完全困难的人，如果不是完全无法获得堕胎服务的话。”
如果没有以下规定的保护罗伊，米勒说，各州将有更多的权力来决定堕胎是否应该在其境内进行。
堕胎问题双方的抗议者于2019年1月18日在华盛顿特区生命权游行期间聚集在美国最高法院大楼前。包括两名民主党人在内的数十名立法者要求最高法院考虑推翻罗伊诉韦德案的裁决，该裁决确立了美国的堕胎权
她说，那些使堕胎变得困难或不可能的人将不得不与不支持这项立法的选民斗争，而那些需要堕胎护理的人将需要在其他地方寻求堕胎护理，也许是在已经采取或将采取支持堕胎政策的邻国。
米勒说:“我们在州一级有着巨大的机会。”他指出，2019年出台的许多涉及堕胎和生殖健康其他方面的“肯定法律”表明，“我们有一场强大的反运动。”
“我预计这一势头将会继续，”她说。
“一些州可以继续竞争到底。但是，现在、昨天、今天和明天各州应该加快步伐，”米勒说。"最高法院对堕胎权没有最终决定权。"
THE SUPREME COURT MIGHT OVERTURN ROE V. WADE—BUT JUSTICES WON'T HAVE THE FINAL SAY ON ABORTION LAWS, EXPERT SAYS
With more than 200 members of Congress calling on the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion rights groups across the country are bracing for the possibility that 2020 could be the year the ruling that established the right to abortion in the U.S. is rescinded.
Last week, dozens of Republican lawmakers, joined by two Democratic representatives, signed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to consider overturning the 1973 decision, which has protected the right to abortion in the U.S. in the decades since.
In an interview with Newsweek, Andrea Miller, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH), said there was a real possibility the ruling could be rescinded. However, she said, even if the Supreme Court does follow through with overturning Roe, it does not mean the battle is lost for abortion rights advocates.
"The Supreme Court matters. It matters a lot," Miller said. "But, it does not have the ultimate last word." At the end, she said, that power will lie with states, which, in a world without Roe, would have more power to "do harm" or to "do good."
'Look to the states'
"No matter what the Supreme Court does, it's important to look to the states," Miller said.
Over the past year, states across the country have been racing to introduce new legislation to either strengthen or weaken their abortion laws in anticipation of the possibility that Roe could be overturned by the Supreme Court.
The rush, of course, was prompted by the nomination and subsequent confirmation of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
With anti-abortion state lawmakers confident that Kavanaugh would take an anti-abortion status and buoyed by the fact that, with his confirmation, the Supreme Court would have a conservative majority, many rushed to introduce stringent new laws, with some banning abortion almost entirely.
"It's really important for people to understand the number of attacks that have happened over the past year and in recent years," Miller said. However, she said, while 2019 did see a surge of anti-abortion laws signed across the country, it also saw "unmistakable momentum" for pro-abortion advocates.
That trend is revealed in a new study released on Monday by the NIRH, entitled "Gaining Ground."
While the study notes that 2019 saw "unprecedented efforts by state governments to restrict or eliminate access to abortion," it also pointed out that 49 states and D.C. had enacted "a record 147 bills to protect and expand reproductive freedom in 2019."
A 'patchwork' of access
Efforts to promote access to abortion in 2019, the study said, had surpassed "each of the previous five years."
In Illinois, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, for example, state leaders "enacted laws that codify a fundamental right to make reproductive health care decisions, including the decision to have an abortion," the report states. Meanwhile, "Nevada decriminalized self-managed abortion so that women do not risk prosecution for ending a pregnancy."
Four other states, it noted, also enacted laws seeking to advance access to abortion, with California, for example, requiring public universities to offer medication abortion at on-campus student health centers. In the same year, New Jersey launched its confidentiality program, which allows patients and providers to request that their addresses be kept confidential.
Ultimately, Miller said, even with Roe in place, "it's important to remember that, for a number of years, we already lived under a real patchwork of abortion access."
"So, we already have people in many places for whom abortion access is completely difficult, if not completely out of reach."
Without the protections provided under Roe, Miller said, states would have more power to decide whether abortions should be accessible within their borders.
Protesters on both sides of the abortion issue gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building during the Right To Life March, on January 18, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Dozens of lawmakers, including two Democrats, have asked the Supreme Court to consider overturning its Roe v. Wade ruling, which established the right to an abortion in the U.S.
Those who make it difficult, or impossible, to access, she said, will have to contend with voters who do not support the legislation, while those in need of abortion care will need to seek it elsewhere, perhaps in neighboring states that have already adopted or will adopt pro-abortion policies.
"We have tremendous opportunity at the state level," Miller said, noting that the number of "affirmative laws" addressing access to abortion and other aspects of reproductive health introduced in 2019 suggested "that we have a powerful counter-movement."
"I anticipate that that momentum will continue," she said.
"Some states can continue their race to the bottom. But, right now, yesterday, today and tomorrow states should be stepping up," Miller said. "The Supreme Court does not get to have the last word on abortion access."
