Judith Thompson's In Defense Of Abortion

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Generally, everyone agrees that it is wrong to kill innocent adult human beings in most circumstances. So then let me ask you this, why is it permissible to have an abortion? If it is wrong to kill an innocent adult human being, then why is it not also wrong to kill an innocent fetus through performing an abortion? Now, looking at the two stances one can have on this act: a pro-choice or a pro-life. So then if killing an innocent adult human being is wrong, doesn’t that also make having an abortion morally wrong as well? The pro-choice followers are those in favor with having the right to your own body, making abortions permissible. Every person has the right to control, and make medical decisions about, his or her own body. The second premise …show more content…

In Judith Thompson’s Defence of Abortion, she claims that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception. Thompson’s claim also states, “having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another person’s body- even if only one needs it for life itself”. Thompson goes more into depth with the argument with her two premises and the final conclusion. The first premise is that no one has the right to the use of another person’s body, unless they have been given the right. The second premise covers that if someone has no right to use your body, then it is permissible to discontinue their use of your body, even if this results in their death. In conclusion to Thompson’s argument, it is permissible for a woman to discontinue a fetus’s use of her body (by having an abortion), unless she has given the fetus the right to the use of her body. Thompson also states in her defense that even the mere fact that a woman gets pregnant through voluntary intercourse doesn’t give the fetus the right to the use of their body. However, I do not

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