Thomson's Argumentative Essay On Abortion

So if a foetus has the right to live and a pregnant woman has the right to bodily autonomy, the issue then becomes whose rights are deemed more important, or rather, whose rights prevail in terms of abortion? Judith Thompson’s unconscious violinist analogy argues that even if the foetus has the right to live, it does not have the right to use someone else’s body. You wake up one day and find yourself attached to someone else’s body, and discover that you were kidnapped and this person’s circulatory system has been hooked into yours, as you alone have the right blood type to help cure them of a kidney disease. If you unplug yourself now, the person attached to you will die, however in nine months he will be cured and you can both safely continue …show more content…
In that situation, Thomson’s circumstances are much more like being raped or unknowingly taking birth control that doesn’t work, and waking up suddenly discovering you are pregnant because of unforeseen events. falling pregnant due to consensual unsafe sex would be more like lying down with the sick person and all the medical gear available to attach them, prepping yourself for the surgery, being aware that they are completely able to be attached to you and letting them know this, and then going to sleep and leaving them with your body. Responsibility at that point must become a factor. It is even more so regarding falling pregnant, as that is a natural process of bodily functions, and the foetus has absolutely no control over whether it begins to develop inside you or not. It doesn’t make the choice the same way the sick person would, and cannot share the responsibility in the same way. For this reason, the way in which a child is conceived becomes important in whether the pregnant woman’s bodily autonomy deserves to be considered above the foetuses right to not be