Essay Example on Abortion: Thompson's Justifications and Objections

Abortion refers to the deliberate termination of a pregnancy or the fetus (Finnis, 2010). A Defense of Abortion by Judith Javis Thompson is a moral philosophy article whose main argument reveals that the fetus has the right to life. Thompson argues that abortion is morally permissible even if the fetus is considered a person. In this essay, I will dwell mainly on Thompson's main arguments on abortion. After which objection to his arguments that one person's right to life outweighs another person's right to autonomy.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The author, Judith Thompson uses the experimental thoughts to claim that the fetus right to life does not trump the right of a woman to control her own body, as well as its life support functions and hence the induced abortion, is therefore not morally impermissible. At the start of the article, the anti-abortionists are given the benefit of doubt that the fetus is human persons. Additionally, the writer reveals that all persons have the right to life and that is unlawful to kill someone's life. Thomson precedes to attack the premise that one's right to autonomy. To pass his message in a clear way, Thompson responds with an illustration of a violinist experiment. "You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with a famous but unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help"(Thomson, 2003).

From the illustration, while it would be kind for one to let the violinist remain attached to one's body, nearly no one would think of your moral obligation of doing so. This reveals that the art of abortion is only permissible in cases of rape (and as well the fact that a violinist is also a person that does not preclude the abortion's permissibility.) Those that are opposed to abortion may still say that one has got a right to life regardless of whether one is conceived as a result of forced intercourse i.e. Rape or the mother's life is in danger. Thomson refers to this case as an extreme view. Thomsons presents the manner in which the anti-abortion position can be defended in cases where a mother is in danger if she brings the child into the full term. The abortion will result in the death of the innocent baby while on the other hand the mother will be allowed to live. But the author clearly depicts that the self-defense cases cannot be considered as murder.

From the article, the author presents that the abortion debate majorly emphasizes on what a third party might do in cases where a woman solicits for abortion as it is difficult to accomplish it with herself. A third party may refuse to kill the baby trapped to a mother in a tiny house in another of her experimental thoughts. "Suppose you find yourself trapped in a tiny house with a growing child. I mean a very tiny house and a rapidly growing child-you are already up against the wall of the house and in a few minutes you'll be crushed to death." (Thomson, 2003). The anti-abortionist can change their argument and resort to accepting the abortion cases for self-defense. Thomsons argues that if one owns a house that the growing child is continuously expanding in, he/she have more right to it compared to what he/she doe. Since the cases of abortion due to self-defense have been defended, Thomson turns to other possibilities. Thomson concedes that a third party cannot make the choice either the person being crushed or the child.

However, from the above information, there are some challenges regarding the position of the author. Thomson's arguments critics generally grant the permissibility of unplugging the violinist but do not clearly portray the inferences for the abortions permissibility by his argument that there are morally relevant variations between the typical case of abortion as well as the violinist. The most common objection to this is that the argument of the violinist by Thompson can only justify abortion in rape or forced intercourse. In the violinist case, the woman in context was kidnapped hence she did not consent to have the violinist to be plugged in just like a pregnant woman out of rape did nothing to cause her pregnancy. But narrowing to the typical cases of abortion, the pregnant women voluntarily had intercourse within her consent and therefore has either tacitly consented to let the fetus use her body i.e. the objection consent or otherwise has the obligation of sustaining the fetus since the woman herself caused the fetus to stand in need of her body (responsibility objection). Other forms of objections turn on the sole claim that the fetus is the child of the pregnant woman whereas the said violinist is a stranger. Thomson's article by posting moral justification for the abortion even if one grants the fetal right to life resulted in a new avenue in the debate of philosophy about abortion ethics (Thomson, 2006).

Personally, I disagree with the authors view on abortion even after explaining its essence with the experiment of the violinist. Therefore I will support the above objections on abortion as it is actually wrong to carry out an abortion. It is claimed that human life begins at conception and the human conceived is innocent and hence does not deserve any right to be killed. Therefore the act of legalizing abortion is legalizing killing and this, in turn, reduces people's respect for life. The act of reducing the society's respect for life may lead to euthanasia, genocide as well as increased murder rates.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is actually clear that Thompson's arguments on abortions from her experimental illustrations have received many critics on both sides of abortion debate yet it also continues to receive defense. Therefore Thompson's imaginative examples and the controversial conclusions have made "A Defense of Abortion" the most widely reprinted paper with various supports and objections. Hence Thompson grants for the sake of the argument that the fetus has the right to life.

References

Thomson, J. J. (2003). A defense of abortion. Raisons politiques, (4), 3-24.

Thomson, J. J. (2006). A defense of abortion. In Biomedical ethics and the law (pp. 39-54). Springer, Boston, MA. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4684-2223-8_5

Thomson, J. J. (2007). A defense of abortion. Bioethics: An Introduction to the History, Methods, and Practice, 331. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2WIL8ODNdsIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA331&dq=%22A+Defense+of+Abortion%22++by+Judith+Jarvis+Thomson&ots=yP0M4X-mFz&sig=WbGf0iLQcxcV30X8O4Kd9ioOZBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22A%20Defense%20of%20Abortion%22%20%20by%20Judith%20Jarvis%20Thomson&f=false

Finnis, J. M., Cohen, M., Nagel, T., & Scanlon, T. (2010). The rights and wrongs of abortion. Retrieved from https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_books/151/