時論廣場》美國推翻墮胎權 蔡政府失去捍衛女權時機（方恩格 Ross Darrell Feingold）

美國最高法院做出推翻憲法保障墮胎權的重大裁定，引發下一步會否劍指避孕、同性婚等權利的法律保障依據。（圖／路透）

6月24日，美國最高法院推翻美國憲法過去50年來對婦女墮胎權的保障，我們可以預見美國的許多州會開始將墮胎定爲非法。

在臺灣，《優生保健法》爲墮胎提供了法律依據，超越了《刑法》第24章中對墮胎的刑事定罪。這保障了臺灣的女性能夠獲得避孕、節育等資源。其中也包括了一些尚有爭議的限制，像是已婚婦女必須獲得配偶的同意、或20歲以下必須獲得監護人的同意才能進行人工流產（這令許多支持者對於佔立院多數的執政黨失望了）。政府官方統計，臺灣每年約有20萬例墮胎案例，但據報導指出，臺灣每年有高達 50萬件的實際墮胎案例。

至本文截稿前，本報向外交部詢問了其針對美國墮胎權最新結果是否欲做出任何評論，外交部迴應，此爲美國內政問題，外交部不予置評。但事實上，蔡政府經常就美國、中國等他國的內政發表評論。很明顯蔡政府在這個議題上選擇了避重就輕的方式來回應。

放眼國際間，西方盟友如加拿大、法國、冰島、紐西蘭、蘇格蘭、瑞典、英國等國的元首或政治領袖則都針對美國大法官釋憲墮胎案做出了嚴厲的批評。只有極少數的國家如巴西、梵蒂岡表達支持美國最高法院的裁決。

我們需要知道的是，臺灣近期在國際間與支持墮胎權的國際組織進行着不少低調的合作。如外交部打着「女力外交」口號，與參加一些國際間非政府組織（通常是由於臺灣無法參加聯合國和世界衛生組織等國際性組織的替代性組織）、國際婦女組織之中，如「亞太婦女與法律發展論壇」，特別強調婦女墮胎權力。換句話說，蔡政府對婦女的墮胎權所持的立場已經很公開。 因此在美國最高法院裁決了墮胎非法之後，臺灣本應在這樣的時機點公開表態、全力支持美國或世界上其他婦女的權利。臺灣能做的事情有很多，例如可以提供醫療團隊協助遠程醫療英文諮詢，或參考歐洲一些組織向美國婦女提供郵寄藥物的協助。這樣做肯定不但會讓拜登政府提高對臺灣的青睞，也可能爲臺灣提供與歐洲國家更多的合作的機會。

很可惜，在這一時機點上，臺灣失去了在外交場合發表其民主與人權價值的好機會。更尤其是在與外國的保守勢力或政界人士接觸時，臺灣政府更是盡其所能扭捏迴避討論其立場。

就在前幾天，民進黨代表團出席了今年在保加利亞首都索菲亞舉行的國際自由聯盟（Liberal International, LI）大會。國際自由聯盟是民進黨長期以來一直熱衷參與的一個國際進步派團體。這明明是一個充分表達臺灣立場的好時機，但蔡英文總統在該會以影片致詞時，對於現國際間屬重要議題的女性權利議題卻隻字未提。

蔡政府之所以不願對於美國墮胎案一事發表任何評論，難道是因爲不想得罪美國共和黨？那麼反觀2021年駐美代表蕭美琴受邀至極度保守的「全美議會交流理事會」（American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC）發言，當時她對於臺灣的墮胎權利、LGBT或環境監管政策也是隻字未提，似乎也就很合理了。

如果蔡英文政府在國際間對於墮胎的合法性採取更高調的立場，這會讓他們看起來與國內政策的論調一致。這也會讓國民黨相形見絀、讓兩黨在社會議題上形成更鮮明的區別。急需鎂光燈的國民黨爲了在國際間提升存在感，最近開始積極與許多中間偏右政黨的國際民主聯盟展開接觸，這些保守人士之中有很多人都是反對墮胎的。而實際上國民黨在墮胎議題上並未表達過明確立場，這使得國民黨無法在美國的兩黨之間建立同溫層，儘管他們一直努力跟美國人求好、叫人家「老朋友」。

基於臺灣的民意，臺灣目前利於保障婦女墮胎的法律與政策在近期應該不會有太大的改變。那麼，何不在現有政策與民意的基礎上來建立臺灣的外交形象呢？如果蔡政府真的支持墮胎權或LGBT權利，實在不需要對這樣的話題三緘其口。 外交部經常宣稱，臺灣與志同道合的民主同盟站在同一陣線、「Taiwan Can Help」，如果臺灣有意要在這些民主同盟之間建立其全球倡議的合作地位，那麼婦女權利是一個很好的切入點，這也可以成爲美國共和黨與臺灣關係之間的一個好的測試。

總之，如果臺灣想要在國際舞臺上擁有聲量，有時候也需要勇敢向盟友提出不同的意見，而不是永遠只會保持與敵人意見相左。

（作者爲美國共和黨前亞太區主席）

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.