Thomson Abortion Analysis

Abortion in the legal sense is defined as the termination of pregnancy by various methods, including medical surgery, before the fetus is able to sustain independent life. It is also defined as the spontaneous or artificially induced expulsion of an embryo or fetus, i.e induced abortion. This is a moral issue in the sense that many ethical questions remain at hand and need to be answered by the individuals at hand. Furthermore, it is a large-scale moral issue because it not only affects people at the individual level but at a governmental and global level as well. Basing arguments off of the works of Judith Jarvis Thomson, I argue that abortion should be permitted, but with reasonable restrictions.
According to Judith Jarvis Thomson’s paper “A defense of abortion” the basic element of her argument is that a pregnant woman has rights to control her own body. She further argues that the woman's life support functions overrides the rights of the fetus, and that induced abortion is therefore morally permissible. Thomson …show more content…
He essentially argues that if an act of killing deprives an innocent entity or individual of a future like those who are alive and able to live, then killing, in that case, is morally wrong and cannot be justified. Therefore, it is in the same moral category as killing a human adult. Using the same reasoning, he continues by claiming that spermicidal contraceptive, when effective, is the same thing. It deprives an innocent entity or individual of a future. Again, therefore, spermicidal contraception, when effective, is in the same moral category as killing a human adult too. Marquis’ argument is basically that because in addition to abortion being wrong, contraception is also wrong, because in some cases contraception denies a possible person a future of