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Thomson’s arguments and conclusions on abortion
Theories involving moral status of fetus
Judith Thomson’s “a defense of abortion”
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Thompson on the Moral Permissibility of Abortion
The standard argument against abortion rests on the claim that the fetus is a person and therefore has a right to life (Thompson, 1971). Judith Jarvis Thomson shows why this standard argument against abortion is a somewhat inadequate account of the morality of abortion. She argues for the conclusion that abortion is sometimes permissible. She begins the essay by pointing out on whether or not the fetus is a person. If fetuses are persons then abortions must be impermissible, and that if fetuses are not persons then abortions must be permissible. Thomson, begins by conceding the issue of personhood to her opponent; she assumes, for purposes of argumentation, that the fetus is a person from
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The violinist analogy compared to abortion neither the violinist nor the fetus had any say in their condition. If the violinist dies, from being unplugged, it’s not from you unplugging, but from his medical condition. If a woman undergoes an abortion, the fetus dies immediately, due to a decision you made (Thomson, 1971). In the Henry Fonda analogy, the fetus isn’t considered, she reverts back to the violinist by saying, if you continue to allow him to use your kidneys, it’s from your kindness not because you’re being forced to (Thompson, 1971, p. 55). Thompson’s people seed analogy, was ridiculous and hard to take seriously. She was trying to say even when you take all precautions to prevent pregnancy sometimes pregnancy still happens. Like if you are having consensual sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex, you know there is a possibility of becoming pregnant or impregnating …show more content…
She says that is why very early abortions are permissible, and do not comprise the subject matter for moral debate (Thomson, 1971, p. 66). I agree with her final statement. I too, believe, at conception the fetus is not yet human and that an abortion would be permissible. My personal beliefs go along with pro-choice, even though I personally would never consider having an abortion, I believe a woman has the right to decide. Pro-life activists would strongly object, and believe an abortion is killing a human and under no reason should a defenseless life be taken. They also believe that even in instances of rape a woman should not abort because it is the fetus you are punishing instead of the rapist. My response to that is, why should the mother be punished for being physically violated resulting in an unwanted pregnancy? If she chooses to have an abortion, which would be in the first trimester, the fetus cannot survive outside of her body; therefore, should not be considered a separate
Likewise, Thompson holds that a pregnant woman possesses the right to defend herself against her attacker. No matter if the invader is a rapist attempting to harm her from outside or a foetus that may harm her from the inside. The woman still has a moral liberty to repel her attacker by killing the intruder. Killing a person and abolishing their ‘right to life’ cannot be named as immoral when performed in self-defence. Therefore, an abortion is permissible in the ‘extreme case’ whereby continuing with the pregnancy may result in serious injury or death of the woman. However, it can be argued that although it is permissible to act in self-defence against an invader, the foetus is no such invader and should not be treated like one. Unlike the violinist who was artificially attached to you, the foetus is surviving due to the mother’s biological organs and by the natural processes of reproduction and this yields a special relationship. Therefore, this appears to be a crucial difference between the violinist and the foetus. The natural environment of the violinist is not your body, whereas the natural environment of the foetus is within the mother’s womb. Furthermore, the violinist is trespassing because your body is not their natural environment whereas a foetus cannot
To help argue her point, Thomson first begins with an analogy comparing an acorn of an oak tree to the fetus in a woman’s body. She begins by giving the view of the Pro – Lifers; “It is concluded that the fetus is…a person from the moment of conception” (page 113). She then goes on to say, “similar things might be said about the development of an acorn into an oak tree, and it does not follow that acorns are Oak trees…” (Page 113). This analogy helps illustrate how much she disagrees with this Pro –life argument. She calls it a “slippery- slope argument” and goes to say, “…it is dismaying that opponents of abortion rely on them so heavily and uncritically” (page 113). Although Thomson makes it clear that she disagrees with the notion that a fetus is a person (…I think the premise is false, that the fetus is not a person from th...
However, we have reverted back to the case of rape. If a fetus conceived voluntarily has the right not to be aborted due to how it was conceived, then the fetus conceived from rape should also have that same right. Instead of creating a distinction of cases where the fetus has a right to use the body of a pregnant person, Thomson instead makes a distinction of when abortion would be morally wrong.
Over the course of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with regard to her reproductive rights.
Many arguments in the abortion debate assume that the morality of abortion depends upon the moral status of the foetus. While I regard the moral status of the foetus as important, it is not the central issue that determines the moral justifiability of abortion. The foetus may be awarded a level of moral status, nevertheless, such status does not result in the prescription of a set moral judgement. As with many morally significant issues, there are competing interests and a variety of possible outcomes that need to be considered when making a moral judgement on abortion. While we need to determine the moral status of the foetus in order to establish the type of entity we are dealing with, it does not, however, exist in a moral vacuum. There are other key issues requiring attention, such as the moral status and interests of the pregnant woman who may desire an abortion, and importantly, the likely consequences of aborting or not aborting a particular foetus. Furthermore, I assert that moral status should be awarded as a matter of degree, based upon the capacities of sentience and self-consciousness an entity possesses. In a bid to reach a coherent conclusion on the issue, the moral status of both foetus and woman, along with the likely results of aborting a particular foetus, must be considered together. Given the multiple facets requiring consideration, I assert that utilitarianism (Mill 1863) offers a coherent framework for weighing and comparing the inputs across a variety of situations, which can determine whether it is ever morally justifiable to have an abortion.
Mary Anne Warren’s “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” describes her justification that abortion is not a fundamentally wrong action for a mother to undertake. By forming a distinction between being genetically human and being a fully developed “person” and member of the “moral community” that encompasses humanity, Warren argues that it must be proven that fetuses are human beings in the morally relevant sense in order for their termination to be considered morally wrong. Warren’s rationale of defining moral personhood as showcasing a combination of five qualities such as “consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, capacity of communication, and self-awareness” forms the basis of her argument that a fetus displays none of these elements that would justify its classification as a person and member of the morally relevant community (Timmons 386).
There are many factors that are taken into consideration when determining if abortion is morally permissible, or wrong including; sentience of the fetus, the fetuses right to life, the difference between adult human beings and fetuses, the autonomy of the pregnant woman, and the legality of abortion. Don Marquis argues that abortion is always morally wrong, excluding cases in which the woman is threatened by pregnancy, or abortion after rape, because fetuses have a valuable future. Mary Anne Warren contends that late term abortions are morally permissible because birth is the most significant event for a fetus, and a woman’s autonomy should never be suspended.
Thomson starts off her paper by explaining the general premises that a fetus is a person at conception and all persons have the right to life. One of the main premises that Thomson focuses on is the idea that a fetus’ right to life is greater than the mother’s use of her body. Although she believes these premises are arguable, she allows the premises to further her explanation of why abortion could be morally permissible. People would find it more understanding and more willing to help someone who is a relative.
In her article Thomson starts off by giving antiabortionists the benefit of the doubt that fetuses are human persons. She adds that all persons have the right to life and that it is wrong to kill any person. Also she states that someone?s right to life is stronger than another person?s autonomy and that the only conflict with a fetuses right to life is a mother?s right to autonomy. Thus the premises make abortion impermissible. Then Thomson precedes to attacks the premise that one?s right to autonomy can be more important to another?s right to life in certain situations. She uses quite an imaginative story to display her point of view. Basically there is a hypothetical situation in which a very famous violinist is dying. Apparently the only way for the violinist to survive is to be ?plugged? into a particular woman, in which he could use her kidneys to continue living. The catch is that the Society of Music Lovers kidnapped this woman in the middle of the night in order to obtain the use of her kidneys. She then woke up and found herself connected to an unconscious violinist. This obviously very closely resembles an unwanted pregnancy. It is assumed that the woman unplugging herself is permissible even though it would kill the violinist. Leading to her point of person?s right to life is not always stronger than another person?s right to have control over their own body. She then reconstructs the initial argument to state that it is morally impermissible to abort a fetus if it has the right to life and has the right to the mother?s body. The fetus has the right to life but only has the right to a ...
Another basic argument she claims is that the mother also has a right to decide what happens in and to her body but the fetus 's right to live outweighs the mother’s right to decide what happens in and to her body. Therefore, Thomson opposes abortion and claims that a fetus may not be killed unjustly and an abortion may not be performed. Whether the unborn person uses of its mother’s body, because the un-born person has a right to live and use its mother’s body, abortion is unjust killing per Thomson.
That is, a fetus lacks the capacity to communicate, sentience, emotionality, reason, self-awareness, and moral agency (729). The essence of her argument, on personhood, lies in the distinction of human being as opposed to person. For her this is relevant because biologically, fetuses are humans in that they genetically identify with Homo sapiens, but they are not people because they lack the central characteristics of personhood. In order to be confident that one is a person one must display these characteristics- these characteristics ascertain that one is a person. This should not be confused; by saying this she does not mean a fetus which lacks any of these characteristics is definitively stripped of being deemed a person, but that the lack of these characteristics bolsters uncertainty that a fetus is a person. ( Add a sentence her pertaining to the sentence above. Or something like it)Ultimately, these are the characteristics which entail confidence of
Where mother life is at risk, when pregnancy occur due to rape, where contraception fail and where mother intentionally became pregnant. I am against this believe because as we know if mother life is at risk then fetus life is also at risk; fetus is fully dependent with mother. If is planning for pregnancy she can meet with a doctor and ask is she ready to be a mother. On the other hand, if it is unplanned and unprepared then either she should be more careful about being a pregnant by pills, using contraception or any other medications if not then avoid sexual intercourse. In the case of pregnancy occurs due to rape what I personally believe is abortion call kill her. Her body is already in risk by rape and if she decides to do abortion in that situation then there is more probability of dying. Instead of that, she can give birth and give to adoption organization. Therefore, the people who want baby will take care of that baby. Second, some believe fetus is not person so it is permissible. I believe If killing a human being is wrong than killing a fetus is also wrong because it is like killing human cell. We cannot assume that to abort in early stage is nothing even though it is not well developed, but it matters. Abortion is not comparable with a haircut or an appendectomy that is the big mistake in life. She says we value our future, even if we do not value it because whether I value my future or not it is my future. She is trying to say fetus also have future, so before taking abortion decision we have to think about fetus future like ours. No one have right to kill an innocent human being because killing that being is like killing his
“On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion” by Mary Anne Warren is an in depth analysis of what, in Warren’s opinion, is exactly what defines a person and human being, the moral community, fetal development and the right to life, potential personhood and the right to life, and infanticide. Warren believes that emotion and morality should be entirely separate, and that abortion should be legal for all women, as denial would strip women of basic human rights, the rights that a woman holds over an unborn fetus. I personally agree with her arguments on these topics as I agree that women should be allowed to have abortions on their own terms, without subjection of authority or society telling her what she can and cannot do, as well as I agree for the most part on her view of what a person is, potential personhood not outweighing the choice of abortion, and her reasoning on what defines a person in the moral community. Warren insists that the “moral” sense of human and “genetic” sense of human must be kept separate in this observation. As she defines the two, she goes on to say that the confusion of the two “results in a slide of meaning, which serves to conceal the fallaciousness of the traditional argument that since (1) it is wrong to kill innocent human beings, and (2) fetuses are innocent human beings, then (3) it is wrong to kill fetuses.
In A Defense of Abortion (Cahn and Markie), Judith Thomson presents an argument that abortion can be morally permissible even if the fetus is considered to be a person. Her primary reason for presenting an argument of this nature is that the abortion argument at the time had effectively come to a standstill. The typical anti-abortion argument was based on the idea that a fetus is a person and since killing a person is wrong, abortion is wrong. The pro-abortion adopts the opposite view: namely, that a fetus is not a person and is thus not entitled to the rights of people and so killing it couldn’t possibly be wrong.
Discussing the personhood of a fetus is problematic, partly because there’s no clear distinction between a growing fetus and the person it develops into, but mainly because of difficulties in defining the proper role, or extent of rule, by governments in granting that fetus certain rights as a person. In short, the moment we say whether a fetus is or is not a person, and decide to give—or withhold—rights to life to that fetus as if it were a person, we adopt an approach that bears numerous ethical as well as legal implications which need their due diligent consideration.