Arguments Regarding Abortion

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In this paper, I will discuss the pro- abortion argument presented by Judith Thomson. The main idea of Thomson’s argument is that abortion is morally permissible. In supporting her position, Thomson presents several arguments regarding the implications of the right to life that she believes the anti- abortion might have dwelled on. As I explain her arguments, I will also attempt to criticize her view on the topic.
As Thomson observes, most of the common argument on abortion is to define whether or not a fetus is a person. This type of argument, Thomson believes, does not lead to the conclusion of whether or not abortion is permissible. Therefore, she assumes that a fetus is a person from the moment of conception for sake of her arguments. Since fetus is a person and a person has a right to life, fetus is, then, has a right to life. Rather than arguing for or against the statement, Thomson approaches by evaluating the right to life and criticizing the false implications that one might have on having the right to life.
The first implication is the idea of having the right to life can outweigh any other rights that come in conflict with it. By this, it means that your personal rights will not matter when they are compared to my right to life. This the extreme view, where abortion is still not allow even if the mother might die from bearing the fetus, since the fetus has the right to life. Thomson objects this implication of the right to life and proposes a scenario in such that the mother may take action to save her own life. In her scenario of the growing baby, the tiny house that you and this baby are stuck in is similar to a mother’s womb. If you continue to let the baby grow, you will be crushed to death but nothing will happe...

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...mine if it is an unjust killing? With this argument, Thomson turns towards the more common cases, where women are aware of pregnancy risks when they voluntarily engage in sexual activities.
Having knowledge of the risks but the woman still engage in the activities, wouldn’t that put her, at least, to be partially responsible for giving the fetus rights to use her body? In the people- seed scenario, a person has taken all the precaution measures to prevent the people- seed from drifting in, yet a seed roots itself inside the house. Thomson argues that the house owner cannot be fully responsible for this seed who will grow into a person. As a counter response to those that argue the owner could have live without windows, Thomson proposes that women may also have a hysterectomy to avoid becoming pregnant when being raped.

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