Thompson's 'A Defense of Abortion': Literary Analysis

In Thompson’s book “A Defense of Abortion”, it is clear to the us that Thompson believes that abortion is morally permissible given certain circumstances. One circumstance is rape. To defend her claim, Thompson provides us with unconscious violinist analogy. Since you were kidnapped and forced to aid the unconscious violinist, unplugging from him and killing him is morally permissible. Therefore, abortion is morally just if the fetus was conceived without consent, such as with rape. Regardless of the dire situation for the violinist, it is the mere fact that you were forced; therefore, you serve no obligation to keeping the unconscious violinist alive. However, I believe that is not the case, and there’s a major flaw that invalidates Thompson’s

Regardless if you are the only one with the blood type that can save the violinists life, because of the fact that you are a complete stranger, you serve no obligation or moral responsibility to the unconscious violinist. You and the unconscious violinist are merely two human beings, with the same blood type, whilst one dies, the other lives. However, that should not be the same for a mother, who must decide between keeping the baby or deciding to have an abortion. A mother and its fetus can never be strangers to one another. Forced or not, they are now family. The moment the fetus began to develop, the future of the baby was held entirely dependent on the mother’s decision. It is not a normal event in life, that you will be kidnapped and forced to sit in a bed to save a stranger’s life, but it is normal for a woman to look forward to carrying and giving birth to a baby in the future. So, there has to be a feeling a mother must feel for a fetus, regardless of the method of conception. With the violinist, you have nothing to do

Feelings were never attached, especially in the analogy Thompson describes, where you were forced to aid the unconscious violinist, making it even less of an obligation for you. However, with a mother, regardless of the method of conception, there’s an undoubting connection the mother must feel for a human growing inside of her. Sure, the mother may have never wanted a child, but nonetheless there’s a moral responsibility that the mother attains because the fetus is family. The fetus will always be bound to its mother through genetics and DNA. If or when the baby is born, it will share a resemblance with the mother, or even the mother’s mother. Maybe the mother and the baby will have the same eyes, or the same lips, but with the violinist that will never be the case. You, the stranger, do not have any real hereditary connection or feelings to the unconscious violinist. The violinist will not carry your genes onto their next offspring. Connecting to the violinist and remaining attached for nine months or even fifty years, will not change their genetic makeup, and they will never carry or share your genes. They will not be related in any way, shape, or form, other