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Abortion Debate Analysis

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Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of the century, it does not have a simple answer on whether or not is it a morally correct or incorrect thing to do. It’s very nature finds conflict with social, political and religious views which are the most difficult arguments to dispute. Thomson and Marquis both attempt to make sense of this controversial issue, and present their own scenarios which provide a deeper look into questions such as “What is a fetus?” “Is a fetus a person? Why/Why not?” and lastly, “Is abortion morally wrong?”. This paper seeks to compare both the views of Marquis and Thomson in order to answer the previous questions, and will ultimately answer the question “Who has the right to life?” from the views of Thomson …show more content…

Thomson herself does not believe this to be true, however, she allows this pretense to show that this factor is quite irrelevant in determining whether or not abortion is morally permissible. Thomson’s major analogy is as follows: What if you wake up one day and there’s a famous violinist (who is very important to music culture) who is dying. Your bloodstream is the only way to keep this famous violinist alive. Do you have the right to refuse access of your body? Thomson argues that you have the right to deny access of your body, should you choose to do so. The violinist is not entitled to the use of your body simply because they are reliant on you because of survival. In metaphysical terms, the violinist is considered a person. Therefore, when it is argued that you “cannot kill a fetus because it is a person”, this becomes invalid when following the analogy presented by Thomson. You ultimately have the right to deny or accept the use of your body and that “person”, whether considered a fetus or a violinist, does not have entitlement to the use of your body. Although your act to deny access to your body is quite selfish, it is not unjust and you are not doing anything wrong. There are two values that are associated with the construction of this analogy by

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