（雅思精读）疫情期间英国堕胎程序简化了

随着全球化的加速和教育的多样化，越来越多的学生选择留学，而在申请国外大学时，语言考试是绕不开的一环，本文和大家说一说：【雅思精读】疫情期间，英国堕胎程序简化了，一起往下来看看吧。

*注：本文摘自9月19日《经济学人》

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Why women are having earlier abortions during the pandemic

为什么女性在疫情期间提前堕胎

1. Within a week of discovering she was pregnant in late April, Sylvie (not her real name) knew she wanted an abortion. The pandemic had made her the sole breadwinner, and she had a young daughter to look after. She called Marie Stopes, a charity, which arranged a phone consultation with someone at her local hospital. Four days later a packet of medicine arrived through the letterbox, and she terminated her pregnancy at home with the support of her partner. Abortion is a horrible thing, she says. But in terms of how it was handled, it couldnt have gone better.

4月下旬，在知道自己怀孕之后不到一周，西尔维就想要堕胎了。疫情期间，她是家里唯一的经济来源，还要照顾一个年幼的女儿。她给一家叫做Marie Stopes的慈善机构打了电话，该机构安排她打电话给当地医院咨询。四天后，她收到了一包药，在丈夫的帮助下，她终止了人神。她说，堕胎是一件很可怕的事情，但是，这次堕胎处理的很好。

2. Sylvie is one of 23,000 women in England and Wales who had an abortion at home between April and June. That this was possible was due to a temporary change in the rules introduced as the country went into lockdown. In normal times, the first of the two pills required for a medical abortion must be taken at a hospital or clinic. But emergency measures, introduced on March 30th to avoid unnecessary hospital visits, designatedwomens homes

在4月到六月期间，英格兰和威尔士一共有23000名妇女堕胎，西尔维就是其中之一。能够如此便利地堕胎，是因为疫情封锁之后，堕胎相关规定有所改变。正常情况下，药流需要的头两种药物必须在医院或者诊所服用。但是，英国3月30日出台了避免不必要检查的紧急措施，允许药物直接送到女性家中。

3. As another place where the pills could be taken, at least until ten weeks ofgestation. As a result of the change, abortions are now happening earlier. Data published on September 10th show that between January and June this year, there were 109,836 abortions in England and Wales. Some 50% of these, including Sylvies, were performed before seven weeks, compared with fewer than 40% during the same period in 2019. The proportion performed before ten weeks rose from 81% to 86%. There was also a smalluptick in the overall number.

在妊娠十周之前，可以在家服用药流药物。这一变化带来的结果就是，堕胎时间提前了。9月10日公布的数据显示，今年1月至6月，英格兰和威尔士有109,836例堕胎。包括西尔维在内，其中约50%的手术是在妊娠七周之前进行的，而2019年同期这一比例不到40%。10周前的比例从81%上升到86%。总体堕胎数量也有小幅上升。

4. Abortion is usually a safe procedure, but there is a direct correlation between the risk of complication and weeks of gestation, says Sam Rowlands, a doctor at the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, a representative group. That means easing access to early terminations has increased the safety of abortion care, says Edward Morris of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Both groups have called for the changes to be made permanent. The government has said it will launch a public consultation on the matter.

英国堕胎护理提供者协会(British Society of Abortion Care Providers)的医生山姆罗兰兹(Sam Rowlands)称，一般来说，堕胎是很安全的，但是并发症风险和妊娠周数之间有着直接关系。皇家妇产科学院的爱德华莫里斯说，这意味着放款提前终止妊娠的条件提高了堕胎护理的安全性。这两个组织都在呼吁堕胎规定的永久性改革，政府表示就此进行公开意见征集。

5. The picture is gloomier in those parts of Europe where politicians did not do much to ease access to abortion. Recent research by Abigail Aiken of the University of Texas at Austin looked at enquiries to Women on Web, a Canadian charity that provides pills to women in countries where at-home abortions are illegal. She found that during the pandemic they shot up in Italy (by 68%) and Portugal (by 139%). In Britain they fell tonegligible levels.

在那些政府没有采取措施放宽堕胎条件的欧洲地区，情况很糟糕。德克萨斯大学奥斯丁分校的阿比盖尔艾肯(Abigail Aiken)最近进行了一项研究，调查了 网上妇女（Women on Web）的咨询数据，网上妇女是加拿大的一个慈善机构，为那些在家堕胎非法化国家的女性提供药物。她发现，在疫情期间，意大利(68%)和葡萄牙(139%)的堕胎咨询率大幅上升。在英国，这一比例降到了可以忽略不计的水平。

6. Sylvie says the new way of doing things also reduced the psychologicaltoll of the procedure. In 2011 she had to wait five weeks for an abortion, by which point she was nearing her second trimester. She lives in rural Cornwall, an area she says is lacking in health care [providers] and forward thinking. She remembers being passed from pillar to post while attempting to get an abortion. The experience was so bad she made a formal complaint. This time, however, she says the process was respectful, compassionate and, crucially for her, private.

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