Don Marquis Why Abortion Is Immoral

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Recommended: Critical analysis of Judith Jarvis Thomson A defense of abortion

Don Marquis Why Abortion is Immoral serves as arguably one of the strongest philosophical arguments against abortion. Unlike many pro-life arguments, Marquis case against abortion does not rest on religious dogma and he establishes an organized and at times convincing argument. However, upon closer analysis, the premises he bases his argument off of have fundamental flaws that seriously invalidate his ultimate conclusion that abortion is immoral. These flaws are especially evident when compared to an equally famous philosophical argument regarding abortion – Judith Jarvis Thomson’s In Defense of Abortion. In her paper, Thomson offers a thought experiment, the violinist example, which adequately proves that two of the premises Marquis argument rests on are false, thus disproving Marquis conclusion that abortion is immoral.
The purpose of Marquis essay is to establish that “the overwhelming majority of deliberate abortions are seriously …show more content…

He then expands his argument by stating that abortion is the killing of a fetus and deprives a fetus of a valuable future. Thus, abortion is wrong. Although these premises appear sound, the arguments displayed in Thomson’s essay show that premise one and premise four of Marquis argument are false, and his argument is erroneous. In A Defense of Abortion, Thomson begins by establishing that while she does not believe a fetus is a person, for the sake of her argument she will permit the premise that a fetus is a person (Thomson 47). Thomson then states that while a fetus has a right to life, the mother also has a right to decide what happens in and to her body and that these two premises are self-evident (Thomson 50). She then states that in the case of abortion, surely the fetus’s right to life outweighs the mother’s right to bodily autonomy. For those who agree with that conclusion, Thomson offers the following thought

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