ipl-logo

Abortion: Don Marquis And Judith Jarvis Thomson

496 Words2 Pages

Abortion is a controversial topic, which can stir up feelings on each side of the debate. Those who support abortion argue that it’s a woman’s choice of what to do with their body. Those who are against abortion argue that all life is sacred and that it should never be taken under any circumstance. In this paper, I will discuss Don Marquis and Judith Jarvis Thomson and their views on abortion.
In his article titled “Why Abortion is Immoral,” Don Marquis argues that the sustenance of human life is a moral obligation that every individual should uphold. He states that abortion is immoral, except in rare cases, and that it is the same as killing an innocent person (RT, 99). Marquis demonstrates that abortion is the same as killing an adult. Marquis comes up with a new strategy to identify what makes killing wrong. He states that first, one must identify why killing a human is wrong and then applying that response to abortion (RT, 101). According to Marquis, what makes killing wrong is killing a being with a right to life and a right to have a future like ours (RT, 102 - 103), one can apply this to killing a fetus. By killing a fetus, one is depriving the fetus of enjoying and having a future; it deprives the victim of everything they could have done if his/her life wasn’t ended. His/her life would have …show more content…

When the fetus is killed, it is deprived of everything it will eventually come to value in life (RT, 102). As Marquis points out, what makes killing wrong, is the

Open Document