Judith Jarvis Thomson: a Defense of Abortion

question 1

Multiple Choice

Judith Jarvis Thomson: A Defense of Abortion
Most opponents of abortion claim that a fetus is a person from the moment of conception. For the sake of argument, Thomson grants this claim, and asks whether it follows that abortion is morally wrong. Opponents of abortion typically argue that it does follow, because every person has a right to life, and it is wrong to intentionally kill the bearer of a right to life. In response, Thomson asks us to consider a thought experiment. You wake up one morning and have been hooked up to a famous violinist, so that your kidneys extract poisons from his blood. You are told that if you unhook yourself from the violinist he will die, but if you do not unhook then you will be confined to bed for nine months until the violinist recovers. Thomson claims that you are not obligated to remain in bed for nine months; it is permissible for you to unhook yourself from the violinist. But if this is so, then the claim that is always wrong to intentionally kill the bearer of a right to life cannot be correct.
According to Thomson, the right to life is not a right not to be killed, but only a right not to be killed unjustly. In the case of the violinist, Thomson claims that unplugging the violinist is not unjust because the violinist has no right to the use of your body. In general, Thomson claims, "no person is morally required to make large sacrifices to sustain the life of another who has no right to demand them." This naturally leads to the following question: Under what circumstances does a mother grant a fetus the right to the use of her body? Thomson acknowledges that the issue is complicated, but suggests that in cases where precautions against pregnancy are taken, the mother does not grant the fetus the right to the use of her body, and thus aborting the fetus would not constitute an unjust killing. Thomson concludes that although there might be some cases in which abortion is "indecent," it is often morally permissible.
-Thomson claims that even though you ought to let the violinist use your kidneys for the one hour he needs, we should not conclude that:

• A) you should face a legal fine if you didn't.
• B) you would be a bad person if you didn't.
• C) he has a right to use your kidneys.
• D) he has a duty to repay you.

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