美国国家公共电台 NPR--Transracial adoptees with different views on abortion agree on cultural trauma

Transracial adoptees with different views on abortion¹ agree on cultural trauma²

Transcript³

Two transracial adoptees with different views on abortion agree about cultural trauma

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Abortion rights opponents sometimes promote adoption⁴ as an alternative to abortion. Even a Supreme⁵ Court justice did this on her way to overturning Roe⁶ v. Wade⁷. But the issue can be complicated for adoptees themselves. Here's Megan Schellong of our member station WKAR.

MEGAN SCHELLONG, BYLINE⁸: By the time Jeancasia Nolan was in her mid-20s, she'd already had three abortions⁹.

JEANCASIA NOLAN: I regret them, first of all. They'll haunt me for the rest of my life.

SCHELLONG: And Nolan understands her situation is complex.

NOLAN: I'm a hypocrite for having abortions and saying now I'm anti-abortion.

SCHELLONG: She was adopted into a white family. And growing up, Nolan says she had a really hard time because of her parents' mental illness and alcoholism.

NOLAN: I faced every type of abuse that you can imagine.

SCHELLONG: But in her late 20s, she started practicing Christianity. That's when her stance on abortion changed.

NOLAN: And if you really feel - really feel - like you can't or don't want to do this, well, then let's look at the best scenario¹¹ for that child.

SCHELLONG: She's happy about the Dobbs decision and says women in the situation she was in should reach out to family and friends for support. Marla Horn, 20, and a part of Gen Z, sees it differently. Horn, like Nolan, was raised by white parents. She's a Chinese adoptee who grew up in a conservative Christian¹⁰ home.

MARLA HORN: And then they would kind of use that to apply it to their political leanings.

SCHELLONG: Influenced by her adoptive family, she grew up believing abortion was wrong, until 2020, when the murder of George Floyd sparked a personal racial reckoning.

HORN: When you are a person of color and you're viewing something like this, it's way easier to kind of think about your own reality.

SCHELLONG: It shifted her views on everything, including getting her to gradually think differently about abortion and adoption.

HORN: Adoption may not be this saving grace. There's a lot of systemic issues within adoption.

SCHELLONG: Horn says those issues include the trauma resulting in neglect, abuse and abandonment. Nolan knows that firsthand. Even with her traumatic experiences as an adoptee, she believes people should give their children up for adoption because of the family she was able to create. She has three biological kids and one adopted son.

NOLAN: My husband and my children are enormously grateful that my mother gave me an opportunity to do this precious thing called life.

SCHELLONG: But Nolan says transracial adoption should be a last resort because it creates feelings of grief surrounding the loss of one's own birth culture. Nolan grew up in a household that did not celebrate her heritage. And when she went back to her birth country of Colombia, visiting made her feel more estranged¹².

NOLAN: I can't speak my own language. I don't know their traditions. I'm an outsider everywhere.

SCHELLONG: While Horn had a more positive transracial adoption experience, she's still critical of it.

HORN: Something that I really treasure, but I acknowledge the amount of grief and especially that a lot of other adoptees go through.

SCHELLONG: Throughout childhood, her mother exposed her to Chinese traditions through media and adoptee groups, but Horn never took any interest in her birth culture until college, and says she still feels a kind of disconnection.

HORN: There's something we just don't know about ourselves.

SCHELLONG: Like when she joined the Chinese American Students Group at her university.

HORN: I was scared that I didn't know enough about being Chinese.

SCHELLONG: Now Horn is happy to be exploring her birth culture at a pace she's comfortable with. While Nolan and Horn disagree on abortion, they both agree transracial adoptions¹³ can be traumatic.

For NPR News, I'm Megan Schellong.

(SOUNDBITE OF YONDERLING AND FEVERKIN'S "SUNROOM")

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

7 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

11 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

12 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

13 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网