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Thomson’s Argument

As Thomson predicts in part eight, I don’t feel like she takes the argument far enough. While disagreeing with Mary Anne Warren’s definition of person-hood (The analysis of her personhood is shallow and could arguably stretch to the killing of those with disabilities or those otherwise considered “less than” in society. Also, depends on how one defines various characteristics of her definition), my views on the permissibility of abortion tend towards being liberal. I’m uneasy with a defense of abortion that argues that abortion is permissible almost exclusively from the conception occurring from a rape. I worry that such an argument could influence legislation that allows abortion only in the extreme cases; Thomson discusses, such as a case of rape or in the jeopardization of health of the mother. This would violate the privacy of rape survivors and victims, as well as question their experiences. It is unjust to require rape survivors to publicize their experiences, particularly in a society that often blames women for their own rapes. When there declaring oneself raped is the only route to a legal abortion, rape reports may be falsified, giving survivors of sexual assault less care and quite possibly considered folklore.
I find Thomson’s concept of the Minimally Decent Samaritan appealing, but it seems to suffer from an arbitrariness objection – how does one define what is “minimally decent?” Why is an abortion to postpone a trip “indecent,” while abortions resulting from cases involving conception by rape are not? Also, I feel like this highlights a flaw within her violinist example, at least from a utilitarian standpoint.
Suppose you learn that what the violinist needs is not nine years of your life, but only one hour: all you need do to save his life is to spend one hour in that bed with him. Suppose also that letting him use your kidneys for that one hour would not affect your health in the slightest… It seems to me plain you ought to allow him to use your kidneys for that hour–it would be indecent to refuse.
The analogy seems to fail here. Once the hour is up, there is nothing bonding the kidney donor to the violinist, but with pregnancy, even if the 9-month process were condensed into an hour-long process, the woman’s body is more involved with the infant. The role of pregnancy hormones should not be overlooked in the