Judith Thomson Case

Although not fully on the pro-abortion bandwagon, Judith Thomson definitely agrees that there is a time and place for abortion and that it very well may be permissible. There are instances that may be more susceptible to abortion than others and Thompson does not agree on the morality of all abortion cases. These instances include rape and other such circumstances.

Thomson takes her readers on a journey looking through the opposition’s eye. She first gives the readers insight on the fact that she knows full-well the view from the opposing side. Thomson is not naive to the points argued on both sides and chose one to defend: that side being the proaction of abortion. She begins her argument by bringing up the most well-known standing of the opposing side to abortion. The opposition would say that the fetus is a human being from the time of conception. Thomson would argue against this, giving the example of a acorn turning into an oak tree. One cannot simply look at an acorn and say, “Oh look at this oak tree,” because it is not an oak tree; it is simply an acorn. Their argument is therefore considered invalid due to it’s slipper-slope ethical thought process. Her second two points to the argument deal with the mother’s right to having abortion and her right to self defense. Thomson believes in the mother’s right before the fetus in the womb’s right. The mother is the living human at the time and sometimes she does not have a choice whether or not to have a baby, as to which Thomson brings up the example of being attached to the violinist. Whereas the opposite would stand on the fact that the child, being human as well, has every right to these decisions. The mother is no longer in this decision-making alone because of the new-found life within her, despite the circumstances leading up to conception. Her last three main points of the argument lead to her thoughts about there being a time and place for all abortions and that they are not always necessary. She reminds her readers that even though she is on the pro-abortion side, she still believes in the moral decency that all human beings should possess. She ends her argument by saying that she chose the pro-abortion side because she is not fully against it, only in some cases. There are cases to be taken into consideration because of rape and solely standing on the fact that the fetus is not a human from birth.

Thomson’s

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