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Judith Jarvis Thomson's A Defense Of Abortion

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Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first twenty-eight weeks of pregnancy. Many women choose to have an abortion because of the failure of birth control, rape or sadly not wanting the child. However most women who consider this procedure, do not fully understand how it is done or the aftermath. According to the United States government, a baby who is yet to be born is still classified as a human being ("Abortion). An act was founded to protect this from happening in 2004 by President George W. Bush. The act is called the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” and it states that “whoever engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365) to, a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section”. …show more content…

In Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion”, she indicates that “Most opposition to abortion relies on the premise that the fetus is a human being, a person, from the moment of conception. The premise is argued for, but, as I think, not well. Take, for example, the most common argument. We are asked to notice that the development of a human being from conception through birth into childhood is continuous; then it is said that to draw a line, to choose a point in this development and say "before this point the thing is not a person, after this point it is a person" is to make an arbitrary choice, a choice for which in the nature of things no good reason can be given.” Thomson’s words from “Philosophy & Public Affairs”, were reprinted in the "Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical

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Reconstruction Since abortion is the epitome of a controversy topic, it often instigates passionate debates. In Judith Jarvis Thomson's "Defense of Abortion", she provides a pro-choice perspective. Her standpoint centralizes on evaluating the situation independently as opposed to gaging the cases in a black and white manner. Through rather outlandish depictions such as the violinist, she delineates a thought-provoking scenario for her arguments.

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Marquis’ argument on abortion solely rests on the claim that the fetus is a person and therefore has a right to live. Thomson, on the other hand, tries to convey the point that this type of argument against abortion is an inadequate account of the morality of abortion. To begin with, Thomson explains her points through a series of thought experiments that she used as analogies to different situations where a woman could be pregnant but wishes to terminate her pregnancy. Thomson’s analogies are unique because she does not mention the personhood-factor—argument on which antiabortion is entirely based. Even though throughout her arguments she never does agree that a fetus is in fact a person, she still grants the probability that they are a person and

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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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In this paper, I will review Mary Anne Warren’s stance on the morality of abortion and provide my objection to her view that a fetus is not a human on the basis that a fetus does not contain the characteristics, generated by Warren, to be considered a Homo sapien; therefore, warranting abortion morally acceptable. The basis of my argument against abortion is on the premise that a fetus, by the Law of Nature, is to be protected and preserved since it is considered innocent and a human being, based on the idea that a human being is something bodily and physical, an individual and a being in time (Iglesias). Mary Anne Warren defines abortion as the deliberate action to remove a fetus from a human female’s womb per her request resulting in the death of the fetus (Warren 307). By identifying what is meant by abortion before furthering her argument, Warren clearly identifies the topic of her argument so that there be no confusion.

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A baby who has not full developed cannot defend itself, but they should have a mother who can. Additionally, woman who have become pregnant usually give up their baby because of school or

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Abortion is a topic that has been widely disputed and has long been considered whether it should be permissible. Even though it has been 30 years since abortion in Canada has been fully legalized, it is a topic that has remained taboo and many who choose to get an abortion are still heavily judged by society (Long, 2006). Judith Jarvis Thomson, in her piece, ‘A Defense of Abortion’, argues that abortion is morally permissible in most circumstances (Thomson, 1971). Thomson states how people should be Minimally Decent Samaritans, in that even if someone has no right to their assistance, they should save that person’s life if it doesn’t require significant sacrifice, and that this should be a standard we aim to stay above (Thomson, 1971). This

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Mary Anne Warren establishes a belief that a fetus’s right to live is overruled by an expecting mother’s right to an abortion because it is not a technically a true person until it is born. Warren supports her argument by saying that a nearly full-developed fetus is no more significant than a small embryo because “…it is not fully conscious… it cannot reason or communicate message… and has no self-awareness” (Warren, page 499). In contrast, our text states that “…some fetuses develop the capacity to survive outside the womb…” after nearly being two-thirds fully developed; this means that a fetus is ultimately capable of communication and awareness through it’s movements (Munson and Lague, page 469).

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Although many liberals, such as Judith Jarvis Thomson, in “A Defense of Abortion” believe that fetus become humans, they believe there is a cut off line. Jones(2002), believes that because “By the tenth week(mark), for example, it already has a face, arms, and legs, fingers and toes; it has internal organs, and brain activity is detectable”(Pg.39), that ten weeks into pregnancy is cut off line. That the fetus before ten weeks is just a clump of cells without soul or life. However, according to Jane English(1975), in “Abortion and the Concept of a Person”, she states that “Animals, for example, are not persons,yet to kill or torture them for no reason at all is wrong. ”(Pg.233)

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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

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Most abortion arguments discussed today revolve around the premise that a fetus is a human being at conception. In Judith Thomson’s essay, “A Defense to Abortion”, she argues on the topic of abortions. She defends the mother’s right to choose what happens to her body on the assumption that a baby becomes a human at conception. In the argument, she gives the famous Violinist analogy. I will argue in this essay that her argumentative analogy is not sound because of the difference in social importance.

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The abortion debate is an ongoing argument involving the legal, moral, and religious status of an induced abortion, an abortion sought with the intent of terminating one’s pregnancy. Typically, abortion arguments are made based on the “pro-choice” or “pro-life” movements. Those who fight for the “pro-choice” movement, state that pregnant women have the right to choose whether they carry the fetus to term or not; whereas, those who argue for the “pro-life” movement, state that the fetus has a right to life and should be carried to term. What about the gray space, the space where perhaps women do not have a choice in the matter? If a woman’s life is at risk or if the pregnancy was the result of rape, then she should have the option of abortion

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Development of the fetus from conception to birth is continuous; which implies that the fetus turns into a person at whichever point between the conception and birth is arbitrary. With this “logical” thinking, it should be sufficient reasoning to consider the fetus a person at the time of conception. They would also argue that every person has a right to life and even though the mother has a right to decide what happens “in and to her body” (Pg64), this right is not as prioritized as someone else’s right to life, concluding that abortion is not permissible. In a Thought experiment, this setting should be morally relevant and should be treated with the same mindset; “You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist.

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Abortion: the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. When you think of abortion, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? I asked my peers what the first thing came to mind when I said abortion. Two of my classmates, Bre and Alec, girl and boy, both said that they first thing that came to mind was teen moms.

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‘Abortion’ is ending of the pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo from the womb before it can survive on its own. This can occur either spontaneously or due to human intervention. When an abortion is caused purposely, then it is called an induced abortion. When it happens due to natural causes, it is a spontaneous abortion. Although the term ‘abortion’ implies a premature termination of pregnancy for any reason, the layman better understands the word ‘miscarriage’ for involuntary fetal loss.

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