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Summary Of Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense Against Abortion

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Trevor Mangru Professor Bentley PHI 1600 Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense Against Abortion Ever since Roe. vs . Wade, where abortion was deemed legal by extending the ninth amendment rights to protect all persons rights. This case has managed for abortion to become a hot topic in America. Throughout her paper, Judith Jarvis Thomson presents an argument that describes why abortion is moral. The purpose of Thomson’s argument is to dictate to the reader that a fetus is a creature that does have rights, however, a fetus does not have the right to a mother’s body; therefore abortion is permissible in a way does not hurt a creature not being born yet, and that a mother has the right to determine what is happening to and as well as within her …show more content…

In the case of rape, an abortion would be morally tolerable, such that the fetus being formed does not one have the amount of rights as a fetus that was created from intended conception. (Thomson 5). When we are faced in the case such that a baby is to be born from rape, the baby is looked down upon in shame, as well as the mother.In the Christian religion, a baby conceived from rape, is a sin and is not God’s will. (Thistlethwaite 1). However, being said so, we are presented with a statement that does not please, the ears, therefore, we are forced to question whether or not a baby would like to be told they are the product of a rape. Being so, we can dismiss this case on the grounds that abortion is permissible in the case of rape, and a fetus being conceived from rape. Thomson additionally arises the objection that when presented with the fact that everyone has a right to life, including an unborn child, we cannot kill anyone or anything. (Thomson 19). This is brought up from a strict point of view on the value and preservation of life.But, why should an unborn life have priority over a mother’s life? In the case as such, the mother should just throw away her own life. Additionally, the mother should just give up on her own life and give away her body if she cannot even have the choice to determine what takes place within and to her body as well. In another case, Thomson describes waking up next to a violinist that needed your own blood type in order to survive. You woke up just to find out that the two of you would be attached to one another for the next nine months, in order to discontinue this attachment, would immediately lead to the death of this violinist. Thomson provides the argument that in a situation where another person’s life may outweigh your own, then you are left to no avail. (Thomson 4). This defends the statement that since all violinists are people, then they cannot disband and

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In A Defense of Abortion Thompson presents an argument against the morality of abortion by showing the superiority of women’s rights through several different analogous cases. The case of focus will be case eight, “ A Selfless Brother’s Box of Chocolates.” In scenario one, Thompson argues that an older brother has a box of chocolates while his younger brother has nothing; the question of appeal is does the younger brother automatically have a right to these chocolates? The box of chocolates represents a woman’s body while the younger brother represents the fetus. Although it would be nice for the older brother (mother) to share his box of chocolates (mothers body) he is not obligated to share them with anyone even if he is perceived as a selfish, greedy, or a stingy person.

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Analysis Perhaps the most popular argument made against abortion is that the fetus is a person. Based on this assertion, the fetus has a moral right to life. The problem that Thomson identifies is that most of the anti-abortionist and pro-life supporters rely solely on this aspect for their argument and do not rationalize any other matter.

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Rosalind Hursthouse has a very different opinion on abortion and does not relate it to the murder of children or the rights of women. Instead, she justifies it through what a virtuous person would do. In the case study with the Thompson’s, Hursthouse would relate it to the relevance of the familiar biological facts and how pregnancy is a known result of sexual intercourse. The fact that Linda’s fetus is four months old would not be of relevance in Hursthouse’s opinion as clear lines are not visible as to when the fetus is attached and developed. The main focus of Hursthouse would be to question whether the abortion would be a result of a person acting “virtuously or viciously or neither” (Hursthouse 474).

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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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Abortion is killing a fetus, a fetus is a person, all person has a right to life, killing someone with a right to life is always wrong. In Thompsons article, she portrays that this statement isn’t always true by making arguments in certain situations that abortion is okay. However, many might disagree with her arguments about abortion but, to which I see to be perfectly thought-out and, explained. A person is not morally bounded to do something for someone else such as to save their life.

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Thomson then shifts the argument towards the definition of abortion, according to opposing parties, which is that it is directly killing the child and how it is connected to the woman’s rights and the analogy. This idea leads to the four logical trains of reasoning. The first is that directly killing a human being is always not permissible, then an abortion may not be carried out. The second is that killing a person who is innocent is murder, than abortion may not be performed, and the third is that one should refrain from killing a innocent human is more important than keeping another alive, an abortion should not be done. The fourth is “if one's only options are directly killing an innocent person or letting a person die, one must prefer

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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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Judith Thompson in her analogy of abortion gives a scenario, of someone waking up one morning only to find that they have been plugged into a violinist that has a kidney failure, they are told by doctors that they will have to be plugged into the “famous” violinist for nine months, if they unplug, the violinist dies, if they stay plugged in, the violinist after the nine months recover however that person suffers their right to what happens to their body. The question posed following this analogy is, should the person unplug? There are different aspects to look at it from, let me give my scenario, suppose a lady decides to have sex unprotected because she gains more pleasure from it and in the morning forgets to take her early morning pills and in total forgets to take birth control pills and becomes pregnant. She is the sole cause of the pregnancy and should take responsibility for it; the person plugged into the violinist in Judith Thompson’s analogy isn’t the cause of the failure of the kidney of the violinist so why should they have to take responsibility for it.

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Abortion is not only a fluctuating concept in our society, but an ethical and emotional debate, as well. The image I have chosen presents concepts from a cultural and historical background, as well as presents an ethical, emotional, and logical appeal to the audience. The debate about abortion has simply been overblown and exhausted. The truth of the matter is, abortion is murder. Ending a life, whether innocent or guilty, is murder.

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With this burglary example the person having their house broken into purchased the best bars money can buy but the burglar still gets in through a defect in the bars. Similar to a defect in birth control, rare but still happens, is how the author gets her point across to show just how unjust this treatment is to any individual having an unfortunate event like this becoming a moral responsibility. Then the author stretches the hypothetical situation even more by introducing an example where people seeds exist and one can fly into ones house at anytime taking root in their carpet. This is similar to the burglary example except now that person would have to care for the child after no action of theirs caused this unfortunate event. What Thomson is trying to persuade the reader of is that abortion is sometimes permissible in certain situations and says a law that would prohibit “a sick and desperately frightened fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, pregnant due to rape, may of course choose abortion, and that any law which rules this out is an insane

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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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(67). Me, your child, your creation, is a burden that you have to bear and take responsibility for. To add further grievance to this burden, I have been designed with a countenance that is displeasing to the rest of humanity, and you must bear this as well. Addressing the opposing argument: “One perspective argues that abortion is a uniquely traumatic experience because it involves a human death experience, specifically, the intentional destruction of one’s unborn child and the witnessing of a violent death, as well as a violation of parental instinct and responsibility…” (Brenda Major

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In this story, a person wakes up in a hospital with a famous violinist attached to their kidneys, and is told that the violinist will need the use of their kidneys for nine months or he will die. Thomson then asks the reader, whether or not detaching from the violinist is immoral? Thomson answers this question by showing that it is morally permissible to detach from the violinist since the

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PHIL 125: The Good life Tony Elliott Argumentative Paper Word Count: 1519 Section 1 Introduction In Section 2, I will present Thomson’s argument that abortion is impermissible. In Section 3, I will raise an objection to that argument.

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