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A Defense Of Abortion By Judith Thomson

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One of the most famous arguments against the pro-life position is Judith Thomson’s “Violinist Analogy,” in which you, the reader are attached, against your will, to a famous unconscious violinist in order to prevent his dying from a kidney ailment. There have been many articles written about the Violinist Analogy. In her 1971 essay, “A Defense of Abortion” Thomson makes several other arguments against the pro-life position. In this paper, I will look at the entirety of her essay and suggest reasons why it may not stand up to scrutiny today.
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Judith Thomson’s A Defense of Abortion is an article defending abortion on the grounds of rights, duties, and justice. Thomson uses various thought experiments to represent different circumstances surrounding a pregnancy and the permissibility of abortion in these circumstances. One such thought experiment that she uses in her argument is the burglar example. If you open a window and a burglar climbs into your house, anti-abortionists would argue that the burglar has a right to stay in your house and you have a duty to shelter him because you are partially responsible for his presence there. Even if you install bars specifically to keep out burglars and the burglar still manages to break in then you are still partially responsible and he still

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In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Thomson argues with a unique approach regarding the topic of abortion. For the purpose of the argument, Thomas agrees to go against her belief and constructs an argument based on the idea that the fetus is a person at conception. She then formulates her arguments concerning that the right to life is not an absolute right. There are certain situations where abortion is morally permissible. She believes that the fetus’s right to life does not outweigh the right for the woman to control what happens to her own body.

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Before writing this essay I thought long and hard on what topic I would choose. I wanted it to be something very interesting to me and something I had knowledge about already. After reading the article “Three Legal Reasons Abortion Should Be Banned” by Kristi Burton Brown, I knew exactly what I wanted to write and what my argument would be. While writing this essay I think I had a growth mindset. Although I already had knowledge on abortions reading this article made me realize why abortions most definitely be banned.

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