时论广场》美国推翻堕胎权 蔡政府失去捍卫女权时机（方恩格 Ross Darrell Feingold）

美国最高法院做出推翻宪法保障堕胎权的重大裁定，引发下一步会否剑指避孕、同性婚等权利的法律保障依据。（图／路透）

6月24日，美国最高法院推翻美国宪法过去50年来对妇女堕胎权的保障，我们可以预见美国的许多州会开始将堕胎定为非法。

在台湾，《优生保健法》为堕胎提供了法律依据，超越了《刑法》第24章中对堕胎的刑事定罪。这保障了台湾的女性能够获得避孕、节育等资源。其中也包括了一些尚有争议的限制，像是已婚妇女必须获得配偶的同意、或20岁以下必须获得监护人的同意才能进行人工流产（这令许多支持者对于占立院多数的执政党失望了）。政府官方统计，台湾每年约有20万例堕胎案例，但据报导指出，台湾每年有高达 50万件的实际堕胎案例。

至本文截稿前，本报向外交部询问了其针对美国堕胎权最新结果是否欲做出任何评论，外交部回应，此为美国内政问题，外交部不予置评。但事实上，蔡政府经常就美国、中国等他国的内政发表评论。很明显蔡政府在这个议题上选择了避重就轻的方式来回应。

放眼国际间，西方盟友如加拿大、法国、冰岛、纽西兰、苏格兰、瑞典、英国等国的元首或政治领袖则都针对美国大法官释宪堕胎案做出了严厉的批评。只有极少数的国家如巴西、梵蒂冈表达支持美国最高法院的裁决。

我们需要知道的是，台湾近期在国际间与支持堕胎权的国际组织进行着不少低调的合作。如外交部打着「女力外交」口号，与参加一些国际间非政府组织（通常是由于台湾无法参加联合国和世界卫生组织等国际性组织的替代性组织）、国际妇女组织之中，如「亚太妇女与法律发展论坛」，特别强调妇女堕胎权力。换句话说，蔡政府对妇女的堕胎权所持的立场已经很公开。 因此在美国最高法院裁决了堕胎非法之后，台湾本应在这样的时机点公开表态、全力支持美国或世界上其他妇女的权利。台湾能做的事情有很多，例如可以提供医疗团队协助远程医疗英文咨询，或参考欧洲一些组织向美国妇女提供邮寄药物的协助。这样做肯定不但会让拜登政府提高对台湾的青睐，也可能为台湾提供与欧洲国家更多的合作的机会。

很可惜，在这一时机点上，台湾失去了在外交场合发表其民主与人权价值的好机会。更尤其是在与外国的保守势力或政界人士接触时，台湾政府更是尽其所能扭捏回避讨论其立场。

就在前几天，民进党代表团出席了今年在保加利亚首都索菲亚举行的国际自由联盟（Liberal International, LI）大会。国际自由联盟是民进党长期以来一直热衷参与的一个国际进步派团体。这明明是一个充分表达台湾立场的好时机，但蔡英文总统在该会以影片致词时，对于现国际间属重要议题的女性权利议题却只字未提。

蔡政府之所以不愿对于美国堕胎案一事发表任何评论，难道是因为不想得罪美国共和党？那么反观2021年驻美代表萧美琴受邀至极度保守的「全美议会交流理事会」（American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC）发言，当时她对于台湾的堕胎权利、LGBT或环境监管政策也是只字未提，似乎也就很合理了。

如果蔡英文政府在国际间对于堕胎的合法性采取更高调的立场，这会让他们看起来与国内政策的论调一致。这也会让国民党相形见绌、让两党在社会议题上形成更鲜明的区别。急需镁光灯的国民党为了在国际间提升存在感，最近开始积极与许多中间偏右政党的国际民主联盟展开接触，这些保守人士之中有很多人都是反对堕胎的。而实际上国民党在堕胎议题上并未表达过明确立场，这使得国民党无法在美国的两党之间建立同温层，尽管他们一直努力跟美国人求好、叫人家「老朋友」。

基于台湾的民意，台湾目前利于保障妇女堕胎的法律与政策在近期应该不会有太大的改变。那么，何不在现有政策与民意的基础上来建立台湾的外交形象呢？如果蔡政府真的支持堕胎权或LGBT权利，实在不需要对这样的话题三缄其口。 外交部经常宣称，台湾与志同道合的民主同盟站在同一阵线、「Taiwan Can Help」，如果台湾有意要在这些民主同盟之间建立其全球倡议的合作地位，那么妇女权利是一个很好的切入点，这也可以成为美国共和党与台湾关系之间的一个好的测试。

总之，如果台湾想要在国际舞台上拥有声量，有时候也需要勇敢向盟友提出不同的意见，而不是永远只会保持与敌人意见相左。

（作者为美国共和党前亚太区主席）

The Supreme Court Abortion Decision: Should Taiwan Shy Away From Policies?

By Ross Darrell Feingold

Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad

Twitter: @RossFeingold

On June 24th the United States Supreme Court ruled that the United States Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, which will result in numerous states making abortion illegal.

In Taiwan, the Genetic Health Act provides a legal basis for abortion, overriding the criminalization of abortion contained in the Criminal Code Part 2, Chapter 24. Birth control, emergency contraception, and abortion are readily accessible. Among the few restrictions are a requirement for married women to obtain their spouse’s consent, and for 18 and 19 year olds to obtain a guardian’s consent (which, to the disappointment of advocates, the Democratic Progressive Party majority in the Legislative Yuan has failed to remedy). Although the government estimates there about 200,000 abortions in Taiwan each year, some estimates are as high as 500,000 abortions per year.

The China Times sought a comment about the Supreme Court decision from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the reply it received was “the US Supreme Court constitutional interpretation is a matter of domestic United States politics, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no comment”.

Certainly, it is easy for the government of President Tsai Ing-wen to avoid answering this question, by simply saying it is a domestic matter of another country. In reality, the Tsai Administration frequently comments on domestic matters in other countries such as China.

In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, worldwide reaction was mostly critical, with strongly worded statements criticizing the decision coming from leaders of, among others, Canada, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Statements in support of the Supreme Court decision and in favor of abortion restrictions came from Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro and the Vatican.

Taiwan does some low profile work with international organizations that support abortion rights. Among recent events that Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-organized with non-government organizations outside Taiwan (in the absence of Taiwan being able to participate in United Nations and organizations such as the World Health Organization) was an online event with international NGO the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, an organization which promotes access to abortions.

The reality is that it is no secret what the Tsai Administration’s views on abortion are. Thus, one option in the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court decision would be for Taiwan to go “all in” to support US women seeking abortions. Taiwan could make available English speaking doctors and provide tele-medicine consultations, and join the growing number of foreign governments and international organizations that will facilitate the mailing of medication to the United States. Doing so would certainly endear Taiwan to the Biden Administration. European governments are also eager to promote access to abortions in the developing world, which presents an opportunity for Taiwan to work with European countries.

Yet in conducting foreign relations, and especially when engaging with foreign conservative organizations and politicians, the Taiwan government shies away from discussing its positions that may offend conservatives, such as on abortion or LGBT rights.

In recent days before this column was published, a delegation from the Democratic Progressive Party attended the global Congress of the Liberal International which was held this year in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Liberal International is a grouping of progressive political parties from around the world, and the Democratic Progressive Party has long been an enthusiastic participant. On June 30th President Tsai delivered a video speech to the Liberal International. The speech omits women’s and reproductive rights, even though these are important issues for the Liberal International which has previously said it seeks “to empower people to take their own decisions about their sexual and reproductive situation”. Perhaps this was a missed opportunity for President Tsai to share Taiwan’s positions on these issues with a global audience.

Is the Tsai Administration’s reluctance to comment about the Supreme Court decision from fear of offending its Republican supporters in the United States? Perhaps, and thus, it is no surprise that when Representative to the United States Bi-khim Hsiao spoke to the very conservative American Legislative Exchange Council in 2021, she did not mention Taiwan’s abortion, LGBT or environmental regulation policies.

If the Tsai Administration takes a more high-profile position on the legality of abortion globally, such would merely be consistent with existing domestic policies. This would also contrast with the Kuomintang, who, as part of its attempts to remind the international community that it still exists, has recently begun to re-engage with an international coalition of right-of-center parties, the International Democratic Union, many of whose member political parties oppose abortion right and maintain other positions that are inconsistent with popular opinion in Taiwan. In reality, the Kuomintang has no position on abortion, which makes it impossible for the Kuomintang to find common cause with either Democrats or Republicans in the United States, notwithstanding the Kuomintang’s attempt to make friends with Democrats while also claiming it is old friends with Republicans.

Taiwan’s abortion-friendly laws and policies are not going to change to restrictive policies or a ban on abortion. There is little call for that in Taiwan. So why not embrace the existing policy and make use of it for foreign policy gain? If the Tsai Administration truly supports abortion rights (or LGBT rights), there’s no reason for it to shy away from making its views known, as other countries have. President Tsai and the Foreign Ministry often proclaim that Taiwan will stand with like-minded countries. If there’s an issue for Taiwan to improve relations with European countries and work together on global initiatives, reproductive rights would appear to be it. It would also be a good test of whether Republican support for Taiwan can withstand significantly different views on an issue as sensitive as abortion.

Ultimately, if on the international stage, Taiwan wants to be a normal country, then it needs to be brave enough to also sometimes disagree with its friends, rather than only disagree with its enemies.