德克萨斯州民主党参议员候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科周三在一次市政厅会议上，因声称《圣经》对堕胎问题没有立场，而被一名天主教选民严肃地进行事实核查。
Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico was ruthlessly fact-checked by a Catholic voter during a Texas town hall Wednesday after he claimed the Bible doesn’t take a stance on abortion.
塔拉里科是一名基督教神学院学生和州立法者，他试图说服自称“单一议题选民”的乔迪·亨特，认为他支持选择权的立场与她的信仰相容，因为“《圣经》对堕胎问题保持沉默。”亨特恭敬地表示，她并不认同。
Talarico, a Christian seminarian and state lawmaker, attempted to convince the self-described “one-issue voter,” Jody Hunt, that his pro-choice position is compatible with her faith because “the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion.”Hunt, respectfully, wasn’t buying it.
她让塔拉里科先说完他关于“某些政策杠杆”——在不禁止该程序的情况下——可以在全国范围内减少堕胎的观点，随后才迎来她的“麦克风掉落”时刻。
She allowed Talarico to finish his point that “certain policy levers” — absent banning the procedure — can reduce abortions nationwide, before her mic-drop moment.
“我想补充的是，《圣经》对堕胎问题并不沉默。有十诫：‘不可杀人，’”亨特反驳道。
“I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the 10 Commandments: ‘Thou shall not kill,’” Hunt shot back.
她补充说：“而且作为天主教徒，当这种说法被提出时，我们有时会感到被冒犯。”亨特进一步指出，塔拉里科主张扩大避孕措施的获取途径以及他所说的“适龄性教育”是天主教徒“非常难以接受”的事情。
She added, “And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when it’s described that way.”Hunt further noted that Talarico’s call for expanding access to contraception and what he described as “age-appropriate sex education” is a “very trying thing” for Catholics.
“我们相信父母是孩子的主要教育者，因此，我们真正挣扎的一件事是，政府干涉我们如何教育孩子，”她说。“所以我知道我们在这点上只能同意保留分歧，但我确实欣赏你关于从子宫到坟墓关怀生命的评论，我认为这是我们可以达成的共同点之一。”塔拉里科继续为自己的立场辩护，解释说他不认为终止妊娠违反了《圣经》的基本原则。
“We believe the parents are the primary educators of our children, and so, one of the things that we really struggle with is having any government interference with how we educate our children,” she said. “So I know we’re going to agree to disagree on that, but I do appreciate your comments on tending to the life from the womb to the tomb, and I think that’s one common ground we can come to.”Talarico continued to defend his stance, explaining that he doesn’t view the termination of a pregnancy as a violation of the Bible’s fundamental principles.
“如果我认为堕胎是谋杀，即违反了十诫，那么我就不会支持它，”他说，声称德克萨斯州目前的堕胎禁令导致“女性在急诊室停车场死亡。”“因此，如果我们真正主张保护生命，我认为我们应该对这一极端堕胎禁令的后果感到不安，”塔拉里科辩称。
“If I believed that abortion was murder, that it violated the 10 Commandments, then I wouldn’t support it,” he said, claiming that the current abortion ban in Texas has resulted in “women dying in emergency room parking lots.”“And so, if we are authentically pro-life, I think we should be disturbed by the outcomes of this extreme abortion ban,” Talarico argued.
在CNN和Jubilee主持的市政厅活动期间，选民被允许走上舞台，直接坐在候选人对面进行辩论，双方在此进行了来回交锋。
The back-and-forth took place during a period in the town hall, hosted by CNN and Jubilee, when voters were allowed to come up to the stage and sit directly across from the candidate to debate him.
在这场持续一个半小时的论坛上，塔拉里科面临选民关于其信仰、选民身份证法律、国家债务以及未成年人跨性别程序的多个提问。
Talarico faced several questions from voters about his faith, voter ID laws, the national debt, and transgender procedures for minors during the hour-and-a-half-long forum.
主持人、CNN的艾琳·伯内特指出，共和党参议员候选人肯·帕克斯顿拒绝参加此次市政厅活动的邀请。
The moderator, CNN’s Erin Burnett, noted that Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton declined an invitation to participate in the town hall.
根据RealClearPolitics对多项民调的平均值，塔拉里科在关键的参议院竞赛中领先帕克斯顿2.6个百分点。
Talarico has a 2.6 percentage point polling edge over Paxton in the key Senate race, according to a RealClearPolitics average of surveys.
自1988年以来，民主党在德克萨斯州尚未赢得过任何一场参议院选举。
Democrats have not won a Senate race in Texas since 1988.