Jean Thomson Views On Abortion

1. After carefully weighing the pro-life argument, specifically the notion that the fetus is a human being from the moment of conception. “A newly fertilized ovum, a newly implanted clump of cells, is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree” (Thomson, Philosophy and Public Affairs p.47). Thomson takes a more liberal and holistic approach on the issue of abortion morality. She then explicitly lays out examples in which abortion is morally permissible: the violinist example is meant as a metaphor for a woman who is raped and now bears the child. Now according to Thomson, an abortion is morally impermissible if it is to avoid large burdens and either save the woman’s life, “Some won’t even make an exception for a case in which continuation

Thomson also firmly believes that “a woman surely can defend her life against the threat it posed by the unborn child…” “But it cannot seriously be thought to be murder if the mother performs an abortion on herself to save her life. It cannot seriously be said that she must refrain, that she must sit passively by and wait for her death” (Thomson, Philosophy and Public Affairs p.47). She explains that this is in a way a form of self-defense and it is the woman’s absolute right to defend herself in any way possible to live. Killing, in this instance, is morally permissible if another person (in this case a fetus) is infringing on your right to

“Everyone has a right to live, so the unborn person has a right to life. And isn’t the child’s right to life weightier than anything other than the mother’s own right to life, which she might put forward as ground for an abortion?” (Thomson, Philosophy and Public Affairs p.47). This is one of the stronger pro-life arguments set against abortion and Thomson attempts to debunk that by saying that yes, people have the right to live but that right to live does not grant or guarantee the use of another person’s body in order to live. It is in a sense kidnapping that person’s body so that you may live which infringes on that other person’s rights.

4. Now although Thomson does take a more liberal stance on abortion than others, she does point out that there are instances in which abortion would be wrong. She refers back to the violinist example (also an instance with rape) and presents the hypothetical circumstance that if the violinist only needs your kidneys for one hour than it would be crude to refuse. As long as it does not oppose a threat to your health than it is just. She also explains that while it is not your responsibility to volunteer, it would be “self-centered, callous, and indecent” not to do