Judith Jarvis Thomson's Abortion Ethics: A Philosophical Analysis

Judith Jarvis Thomson's Defense of Abortion

Judith Jarvis Thomson, in her seminal essay "A Defense of Abortion," begins by granting, for the sake of argument, the premise that a human embryo is a person.

She then challenges the notion that one can effectively argue from this premise to the conclusion that all abortion is morally impermissible.

Thomson asserts that the Basic Argument (a term used by the author of this summary, not Thomson herself) fails to justify the idea that all abortion is morally impermissible.

Thomson's Philosophical Project

The Basic Argument Against Abortion

• The fetus is a person, and every person has a right to life.
• Therefore, the fetus has a right to life.
• The mother has a right to decide what happens in and to her body.
• But the fetus's right to life outweighs the mother's right to decide what happens in and to her body.
• Therefore, the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed.

Thomson suggests that abortion is sometimes morally permissible, particularly in cases such as:

• At least in some cases where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother.
• And in some cases where pregnancy results from rape.

Challenging the Extreme View on Abortion

Thomson argues that the Basic Argument does not justify the Extreme View, which posits that abortion is impermissible even when necessary to save the mother's life.

Another Argument for the Extreme View

• In killing the fetus, one would be directly killing an innocent person.
• Directly killing an innocent person is murder.
• Murder is morally impermissible.
• Therefore, killing the fetus is morally impermissible.

Thomson contends that this alternative argument for the Extreme View also fails.

To illustrate her points, Thomson introduces several influential thought experiments, including:

The Famous Violinist Thought Experiment

Defining the Limits of the Right to Life

Thomson clarifies that the right to life does not inherently include a right to be given the bare minimum necessary for continued life. She notes that if it did, a straightforward argument could prohibit abortion, except perhaps when the fetus's life threatened the mother's.

The Henry Fonda Thought Experiment

Furthermore, the right to life does not equate to the right not to be killed by anyone. Thomson reiterates that if this were the case, it would lead to a similarly short argument against abortion, with the same exception for cases threatening the mother's life.

Revisiting the Famous Violinist Thought Experiment

The True Nature of the Right to Life and Abortion

"The right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly."

If this understanding of the right to life holds, Thomson concludes that abortions are morally permissible in several scenarios: when the fetus threatens the mother's life, when the pregnancy results from rape, and, notably, in cases where contraception was conscientiously used but failed.

The People Seeds Thought Experiment

Ultimately, Thomson's analysis reveals her rejection of a key premise within the Basic Argument: the assertion that the fetus's right to life inherently outweighs the mother's right to decide what happens in and to her own body.