据《华盛顿太阳报》获悉，白宫已指示司法部在中期选举前谨慎处理任何与堕胎相关的举措。
The White House has instructed the Justice Department to move slowly on any abortion-related actions ahead of the midterm elections, The Washington Sun has learned.
据一位无权公开谈论此事的政府高官透露，在一系列会谈中，以白宫幕僚长苏珊·怀尔斯为首的白宫高级官员直接向司法部长托德·布兰奇传达了这一指示。怀尔斯指出，在堕胎问题上采取激进举措会引发不必要的关注，而官员们担心这会在11月选举前夕疏远选民。
In a series of discussions, senior White House officials, led by White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, directly delivered the message to Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to a senior administration official not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Wiles suggested that an aggressive approach on abortion would generate unwanted attention, something the officials worried could alienate voters ahead of the November elections.
“没人希望我们在中期选举前采取任何实质性行动，”这位政府高官强调，这一指示直接出自白宫高层。
“No one wants us taking any real action before the midterms,” the senior administration official said, emphasizing the push came directly from top White House staff.
白宫方面则否认曾举行此类会议：“这完全是虚假信息。白宫官员与司法部官员之间从未有过此类对话。”不过，多位消息源向《华盛顿太阳报》透露，政府官员也已告知那些极力敦促政府迅速限制堕胎渠道的反堕胎团体：任何相关举措都将在中期选举之后才会实施。
The White House denied that meetings took place: “This is completely false. These conversations never occurred between White House officials and DOJ officials.”But administration officials have also informed anti-abortion leaders, who have aggressively pressed the administration to move quickly to restrict abortion access, that any action on abortion would take place after the midterm elections, multiple sources told The Sun.
一位因涉及私下交流而要求匿名的保守派人士表示：“中期选举一结束，进入所谓的‘跛脚鸭时期’，我们听说政府就会放开手脚了。我们得知政府内部也有支持生命权的盟友，确实有不少坚定的反堕胎人士。”一直以来，司法部都请求联邦法官暂缓审理那些旨在限制米非司酮药物使用的诉讼，直至美国食品药品监督管理局完成对该药物安全性与有效性的评估。白宫官员向布兰奇明确指出，若改变这一策略，就可能在选民投票前夕引发负面舆论。
“Once the midterms are over and it’s truly lame-duck time, we’ve heard the gloves will be off,” one conservative in touch with the administration, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said. “We have heard we have friends, and there are definitely people who are staunch pro-lifers.”The DOJ has consistently asked federal judges to pause ongoing lawsuits that seek to restrict access to the abortion drug mifepristone until the Food and Drug Administration completes a review of the drug’s safety and effectiveness. A departure from that strategy would create unfavorable headlines just before voters head to the polls, the White House officials made clear to Blanche.
2024年，美国最高法院以程序性理由驳回了一起试图禁止堕胎药米非司酮使用的诉讼。迄今为止，最高法院始终未就此类药物是否应允许使用表明立场。
The Supreme Court in 2024 dismissed a case that sought to ban the abortion pill mifepristone on procedural grounds. The justices have never taken a position on whether the pills should be available.
此后又出现了多起质疑堕胎药可及性的诉讼，目前这些案件正在联邦法院审理中。特朗普政府虽为美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）允许通过邮寄方式提供此类药物的规则进行辩护，但仅从程序层面出发，并未明确支持现行法规。反堕胎团体及其支持者则敦促司法部放弃这种仅基于程序的辩护策略，以便法院能更快就案件实质内容作出裁决。
Other cases challenging abortion pill access that have emerged since are currently making their way through the federal courts. The Trump administration is defending FDA rules that allow these drugs to be available via mail, but is doing so only on procedural grounds rather than expressly supporting the current regulations. Anti-abortion groups and allies of the movement have urged the DOJ to drop its procedural defense of FDA and, instead, allow courts to rule more quickly on the merits of the cases.
一位政府高级官员透露，白宫已向布兰奇明确表示不会支持这种策略。
The senior administration official said the White House has made clear to Blanche that it would not support such a strategy.
针对有关布兰奇与白宫官员会面的提问，司法部发言人称唐纳德·特朗普总统是“历史上最支持生命权的总统”。该发言人并未具体回应有关会面细节或讨论内容的问题。
In response to questions about meetings between Blanche and White House officials, a DOJ spokesperson called President Donald Trump “the most pro-life president in history.”The spokesperson did not answer questions specifically about the meetings or the substance of those meetings.
“司法部在这些案件中代表食品药品监督管理局行事，而FDA也仍在持续评估米非司酮的安全性数据，”该发言人说道，“我们已请求法院在评估期间暂缓审理相关案件。倘若司法部发现此类药物存在欺诈行为或可能对女性造成伤害，必将展开调查。”反堕胎运动领袖们预计，选举之后将会出现不仅限于诉讼层面的行动。
“The Department of Justice represents [the Food and Drug Administration] in these matters, and FDA is continuing to review the safety data for mifepristone,” the spokesperson said. “We asked the courts to stay these cases while that review is ongoing. Should the Department learn of possible fraud or harm to women involving these drugs, we will investigate those matters.”Anti-abortion leaders expect post-election action that is not just related to litigation.
据一位知情人士透露，司法部官员已向部分反堕胎领袖表示，任何旨在执行《康斯托克法案》——该法案禁止邮寄堕胎药物——的举措都将在选举之后实施。该人士称，司法部“正在积极筹备此事”。
A source familiar with the matter said DOJ officials have told some anti-abortion leaders that any action on enforcing the Comstock Act — which would bar the mailing of abortion drugs — would take place after the election. The DOJ is “actively working on it,” the source said.
Tom McClusky，CatholicVote政府事务总监表示，他从“与之交谈的每个机构和国会议员那里听到的都是同一件事。”他补充道：“总是说直到11月之前不会有任何行动。”Students for Life of America总裁Kristan Hawkins在5月告诉《The Sun》，她与一位不愿透露姓名的司法部官员就《康斯托克法案》进行了“令人鼓舞”的会谈。具体而言，她表示正在讨论撤销拜登政府时期法律顾问办公室于2022年发布的一份备忘录，该备忘录实际上使该法案无法执行。
Tom McClusky, director of government affairs for CatholicVote, said he has heard “the same thing from every agency I talk to and from members of Congress.”He added, “It’s always that nothing’s going to happen until November.”Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told The Sun in May that she had “encouraging” meetings with a DOJ official, whom she declined to name, on the Comstock Act. Specifically, she said there are discussions around rescinding a 2022 memo from the Office of Legal Counsel issued during the Biden administration that effectively made the law unenforceable.
但当被问及司法部是否已向该组织通报何时采取行动时，Students for Life媒体与政策副总裁Kristi Hamrick告诉《The Sun》：“除了大选，一切都推迟到大选之后。”
But when asked whether the DOJ had given the organization an update as to when action would take place, Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life, told The Sun: “Everything but the election is pushed until after the elections.”
Blanche在7月的确认听证会上表示，他反对通过邮寄方式获取堕胎药，并承诺执行《康斯托克法案》——这是一系列1873年的联邦法律，禁止邮寄“一切旨在、适于或意图用于堕胎的物品或事物”。《Politico》还报道称，在8月与信仰领袖的通话中，Blanche表示政府正在努力确保堕胎在“每一个州”都被禁止。因此，一些反堕胎阵营的人寄希望于Blanche能成为他们的盟友。
Blanche, in his July confirmation hearings, said he opposed abortion pills being available via mail and committed to enforcing the Comstock Act, a series of 1873 federal laws that prohibit the shipment of “every article or thing designed, adapted or intended for producing abortion.”Politico also reported that during an August call with faith leaders, Blanche said the administration was working to ensure abortion was banned “in every single state.”As a result, some in the anti-abortion camp are holding out hope that Blanche will be an ally to them.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America总裁Marjorie Dannenfelser表示：“基于Blanche司法部长在确认听证会上的证词，我们怀有希望，并期望迅速采取行动，阻止邮购堕胎药，这些药物正在破坏全国各地的保生命州法律。每一天的拖延都会导致更多女性受到胁迫和伤害，更多未出生的婴儿死亡。行动早已过期。”但自夏天以来，Blanche就堕胎问题未公开发表过任何言论。
“Based on Attorney General Blanche’s testimony during his confirmation, we have hope and are expecting that swift action will be taken to stop mail-order abortion drugs that are undermining pro-life state laws across the country,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “Every day that goes by more women are coerced and harmed and more unborn children die. We are past due for action.”But Blanche has said nothing publicly about abortion since the summer.
白宫指示司法部将选举政治注入诉讼，从历史上看，顶多只能算作高度不寻常。水门事件后，时任司法部长本杰明·西维莱蒂于1979年发布了一份备忘录，制定了指导方针，在某些敏感事务上将司法部与白宫人员隔离开来。这份被称为“禁止接触”政策的备忘录，在随后的几十年里被多次更新和加强，尽管特朗普在其现任期伊始放宽了该政策。
A directive from the White House to the DOJ to inject electoral politics into litigation would historically have been seen as highly unusual, at best. In the wake of Watergate, then-Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti issued a memo in 1979 that laid out guidelines to firewall DOJ from White House personnel on certain sensitive matters. That memo, which has become known as the “no contacts” policy, has been updated and strengthened several times in the intervening decades, though Trump loosened it at the start of his current term.
任何限制堕胎药的行动都将立即违背特朗普2024年竞选承诺，即他“不会阻挠”获取这些药物。
Any action to restrict abortion pills would immediately break Trump’s 2024 campaign pledge that he would “not block” access to the drugs.
这位资深政府官员表示，白宫最早于2月向内阁成员明确了其针对中期选举的意图。布兰奇当时是副司法长，但在4月成为代理司法长后被告知了相关情况。
The White House first made its intentions for the midterms clear to cabinet members in February, the senior administration official said. Blanche was deputy attorney general at that time but was brought up to speed after he became acting attorney general in April.
特朗普政府在堕胎药问题上的沉默，甚至让审理堕胎药案件的法官感到沮丧。
The Trump administration’s silence on abortion pills has frustrated even judges overseeing abortion pill cases.
本月早些时候，在路易斯安那州诉FDA案的口头辩论中，美国第五巡回上诉法院的法官多次敦促司法部律师阐述政府对FDA法规的立场——但毫无结果。
Earlier this month, during oral arguments for Louisiana v. FDA, judges in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals multiple times pressed DOJ lawyers to state the administration’s perspective on the FDA’s regulations — to no avail.
“法官阁下，我唯一能说的就是我们在法律文书中所述内容，即FDA正在进行持续审查。它已承诺这样做，并正在持续进行中，因此我们只是尚未表明立场，”司法部高级法律顾问律师丹尼尔·维尼克说道。
“The only thing I can say, your honor, is what we’ve said in the briefs, which is that FDA is conducting an ongoing review. It has committed to do this. It’s doing it in an ongoing fashion, so we just haven’t taken a position,” said Daniel Winik, an attorney for the DOJ’s senior counsel.
作为回应，法官斯蒂芬·希金森表示：“我认为这非常、非常令人不满意，该机构拒绝就其自身法规发表意见。”
In response, Judge Stephen Higginson said: “I find that very, very unsatisfactory that the agency won’t give an opinion as to its own regulations.”