“A Defense of Abortion” Premise
Judith Jarvis Thomson attempts to defend the issues of apportion. She begins by explaining her basic argument that the premise of a human embryo is in fact a person. She defends this statement by stating that by the tenth week of pregnancy, the baby already has its major functions of the body. However, no one can argue accurately that it can be concluded that all abortion is morally wrong. She believes that a clump of cells is "no more a human then an Oak tree". Her basic argument is that the fetus is considered a person once it is conceived. If everyone has the right to live then the fetus does as well. But the mother has the right to her own body. However, the right to live is more important and stronger then the right to a mother’s ownership of her body. She goes on to argue that mothers who are victims of rape, or are put on 9 months of bed rest, or may even have their lives shorten, should have the option of abortion.
Thomson explains the extreme anti-abortion rule. The view explains a situation in which a mother will die if she proceeds to give birth. However, if she chooses to kill the fetus it would be considered to be murder to an innocent person. Killing a person is impermissible and morally wrong therefore killing the fetus is unacceptable. Thomson claims that the argument fails to look at the mother as the victim. She believes a mother should have the right to "defend her life against the threat to it posed by the unborn