Jean Thomson Arguments Against Abortion

Abortion is terminating a pregnancy before the baby is born. In today’s world, whether or not abortion is murder is a very controversial topic. The disagreement, however, doesn’t come from whether or not it’s wrong to kill an innocent human being. The problem arises in determining if a fetus is a human being from conception, and if it deserves the same rights that other human beings possess. I will show that a fetus is not a human being and therefore abortion is permissible. According to Thomson, deciding if a fetus is a human being or not is too hard to do, as we wouldn’t know where to draw the line of personhood. Therefore, Thomson grants, for the sake of the remaining points to be made against abortion, that a fetus is a human being. The two main …show more content…
For example, if a fetus is in the 8th month, it may be able to feel pain. Or the fetus may have some level of brain function. However, if we grant the fetus rights of a developed person, we would also have to grant a guppy the same rights, as guppies are able to feel pain. Or granting dolphins these rights would be necessary, as dolphins have developed, intelligent brains. The ability to feel pain or having similar experiences as human beings does not automatically make something a human being. On the other hand, if a fetus is not considered a human being by Warren’s criteria, wouldn’t that also mean a newborn isn’t considered a human being? After all, a newborn wouldn’t be that much more person-like than an unborn fetus in the 9th month. This thought challenges the idea that a fetus isn’t a person by pointing out the similarities between an unborn fetus in its late term and newborn babies. If both don’t meet the criteria, then infanticide would be permissible because abortion is permissible, granting that neither are human