新聞英文解析 墮胎罪修正惹議急撤
The MOJ on Tuesday has withdrawn its proposal ofdraft amendments seeking to raise the financial penalties for offenses relating to illegal abortions following a fierce backlash from women's rights groups.
在婦女權利團體的強烈反對下,法務部周二撤回了提高對非法墮胎相關犯罪的經濟處罰的修正草案提議。
The MOJ:(n.)法務部Taiwan's Ministry of Justice的頭字語縮寫
draft:(n.)草案
amendment:(n.)修正案
penalty:(n.)罰金、罰款。
常見用於表示「罰款」的字有penalty跟fine兩個,差別在於 penalty除可指金錢上的懲罰,亦可指其它任何形式的處罰。而fine只能指金錢上的處罰。
offense:(n.)犯法(行為);罪刑。
abortion:(n.)墮胎
backlash:(n.)社會或政治方面的強烈反應;強烈反對;反彈。
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Under current legislation, Article 288 of the Criminal Code, "a pregnant woman who by taking drugs or by other means causes her abortion" --referring to a woman who aborts a fetus herself --shall be sentenced to jail for no more than six months or be fined up to NT$3,000 (US$94), although the punishment can be remitted if the abortion is done because of sickness or for averting danger to life.However, last week, the MOJ proposed raising the maximum fine for this offense to NT$80,000 --a more than 26-fold increase.
據現行立法,《刑法》第 288 條規定,「孕婦以藥物或其他方法導致墮胎」--指的是婦女自行墮胎-,處六個月以下有期徒刑或科新台幣 3,000 元(94 美元)以下罰金,但處罰可如果因疾病或為了避免生命危險而進行墮胎,則可免除。然而,上週,司法部提議將此類違法行為的最高罰款提高至新台幣 8 萬元,增幅超過 26 倍。
Criminal Code:(n.)刑法
remit:(v.)減刑;赦免
avert:(v.)避免;防止
maximum:(a.)最大量的
fold:(n.)倍數
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Article 290 states that carrying out an abortion of a woman's fetus "for purpose of gain" merits imprisonment from six months to five years, and a fine of up to NT$15,000. If it results in aggravated injury, then the sentence ranges from one to seven years, and the prison sentence increases to 3 to 10 years when causing the death of the woman. The MOJ also proposed that the financial penalty in Article 290 would be raised from NT$15,000 to NT$500,000(nearly US$15,650). As for the offense of causing an abortion that results in "aggravated injury," the MOJ sought to raise the currently-stipulated penalty of NT$15,000 to NT$1,000,000, and the fine for causing an abortion that results in a woman's death to increase 133-fold from the current NT$15,000 to NT$2,000,000. Only the penalties are increased, the possible prison sentences are unchanged.
第290條規定,「以營利為目的」墮胎者,處六個月以上五年以下有期徒刑,並科新台幣一萬五千元以下罰金。如果導致嚴重傷害,則刑期從1年至7年不等;如果導致婦女死亡,則刑期增至3年至10年。法務部也建議違反該法條,罰款由新台幣 15,000 元提高至新台幣 50 萬(將近美金15,650元),至於墮胎致「嚴重傷害」罪,法務部力求將目前規定的新台幣一萬五千元提高至一百萬元,墮胎導致婦女死亡的罰款增加133倍,從目前的新台幣15,000元增加到新台幣2,000,000元。僅罰款增加,入獄刑罰規定不變。
fetus:(n.)(三個月後的)胎兒
merit:(v.)根據事實
aggravated:(a.)家中的
stipulated:(a.)規定的
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Additionally, the MOJ also suggested completely removing Article 292, which stipulates the crime of a person who "publicly advertises a method or thing to be used for abortion or who offers the services of himself or another for abortion, " from the statute books, citing the fact that no one has been indicted for this crime in the past ten years. However, some women's rights groups, including Taiwan Women's Link and the Awakening Foundation, separately expressed their concerns that the MOJ's proposed changes to Articles 288, 290 and 292 of the penal code represented a "setback" for women's rights and accused the MOJ of failing to consider abolishing the crime of abortion in the criminal code, but instead only seeking to increase the fines.
此外,法務部也建議從法典中徹底刪除第292條,該條規定「公開宣傳用於墮胎的方法或物品,或為自己或他人提供墮胎服務」的人構成犯罪,因過去十年來沒有人因為這一罪行被起訴。然而,包括台灣婦女連線和覺醒基金會在內的女權組織分別表達了他們的擔憂,認為法務部提議修改刑法第288條、第290條和第292條代表著婦女權利的「倒退」,並指責法務部沒有考慮廢除刑法中的墮胎罪,只是尋求增加罰款。
statute:(n.)成文法;法令
setback:(n.)挫折;障礙;倒退
abolish:(v.)廢止;廢除
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The MOJ had been touting its proposal as being aimed at "protecting the bodily autonomy of pregnant women and the right to life of fetuses" and stressing that it was in line with the requirements of the CEDAW. However, Taiwan Women's Link said on Friday that "the MOJ actually misinterpreted and violated the spirit of CEDAW" since the 2022 CEDAW National Report published in 2022 recommended decriminalizing abortion for pregnant girls and women. Owing to the debate around whether to retain, increase or abolish the penalties altogether, the MOJ said it decided to withdraw the proposals pending further deliberation.
法務部一直宣揚其提案旨在「保護孕婦的身體自主權和胎兒的生命權」,並強調其符合《聯合國消除對婦女一切形式歧視公約》的要求。然而,台灣婦女聯盟週五表示,自2022年發布的《2022年消除對婦女歧視公約國家報告》建議將懷孕女孩和婦女的墮胎合法化以來,「法務部實際上曲解並違反了《消除對婦女一切形式歧視公約》的精神」由於圍繞是否保留、增加或完全廢除處罰存在爭議,法務部表示決定撤回這些提議,等待進一步審議。
tout:(v.)宣傳;做廣告
autonomy:(n.)自主權
CEDAW:(n.)《聯合國消除對婦女一切形式歧視公約》United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
misinterpret:(v.)誤解;曲解
violate:(v.)違反
decriminalize:(v.)(使原本不合法的事物)合法化
withdraw:(v.)撤回
pend:(v.)懸而未決;待定
deliberation:(n.)審慎考慮;深思熟慮