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Single Idea 4696

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 3. Abortion ]

Full Idea

A fetus is not in jeopardy because it is in the womb, so an abortion originates the fatal sequence, and the mother is the agent. Hence Thomson's argument is invalid, and we must return to question of the moral status of the foetus.

Gist of Idea

The foetus is safe in the womb, so abortion initiates its death, with the mother as the agent.

Source

comment on Judith (Jarvis) Thomson (A Defense of Abortion [1971]) by Philippa Foot - Killing and Letting Die p.86

Book Ref

Foot,Philippa: 'Moral Dilemmas' [OUP 2002], p.87

A Reaction

The problem would be if a 'person' was safe, but only if I continue some sustained effort which is not required of me by normal duties.

The 33 ideas with the same theme [attitudes to terminating a life before birth]:

2844 Abortions should be procured before the embryo has acquired life and sensation [Aristotle]
5508 Aquinas says a fertilized egg is not human, and has no immortal soul [Aquinas, by Martin/Barresi]
7225 It is a crime to create a being who lacks the ordinary chances of a desirable existence [Mill]
22383 Abortion is puzzling because we do and don't want the unborn child to have rights [Foot]
22446 In the case of something lacking independence, calling it a human being is a matter of choice [Foot]
4695 Maybe abortion can be justified despite the foetus having full human rights [Thomson, by Foot]
4696 The foetus is safe in the womb, so abortion initiates its death, with the mother as the agent. [Foot on Thomson]
4057 A newly fertilized ovum is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree [Thomson]
4058 Is someone's right to life diminished if they were conceived by a rape? [Thomson]
4059 It can't be murder for a mother to perform an abortion on herself to save her own life [Thomson]
4061 The right to life is not a right not to be killed, but not to be killed unjustly [Thomson]
4060 The right to life does not bestow the right to use someone else's body to support that life [Thomson]
4062 No one is morally required to make huge sacrifices to keep someone else alive for nine months [Thomson]
4131 Most women see an early miscarriage and a late stillbirth as being very different in character [Williams,B]
6999 It is hard to justify the huge difference in our judgements of abortion and infanticide [Jackson]
20284 Why should a potential person have the rights of an actual person? [Singer]
4652 If killing is wrong because it destroys future happiness, not conceiving a happy child is also wrong [Glover]
4662 Defenders of abortion focus on early pregnancy, while opponents focus on later stages [Glover]
4663 If abortion is wrong, it is because a foetus is a human being or a person (or potentially so) [Glover]
4664 If abortion is wrong because of the 'potential' person, that makes contraception wrong too [Glover]
4666 If viability is a test or boundary at the beginning of life, it should also be so for frail old people [Glover]
4667 How would we judge abortion if mothers had transparent wombs? [Glover]
4665 Conception isn't the fixed boundary for a person's beginning, because twins are possible within two weeks [Glover]
4672 Apart from side effects, it seems best to replace an inadequate foetus with one which has a better chance [Glover]
4674 It is always right for a qualified person to perform an abortion when requested by the mother [Glover]
4673 Abortion differs morally from deliberate non-conception only in its side-effects [Glover]
4872 Most people see an abortion differently if the foetus lacks a brain [Dennett]
4054 I may exist before I become a person, just as I exist before I become an adult [Lockwood]
4055 It isn't obviously wicked to destroy a potential human being (e.g. an ununited egg and sperm) [Lockwood]
4056 If the soul is held to leave the body at brain-death, it should arrive at the time of brain-creation [Lockwood]
7587 The issue of abortion seems insoluble, because there is nothing with which to compare it [Scruton]
7103 Abortion issues focus on the mother's right over her body, and the status of the foetus [Statman]
20619 Is abortion the ending of a life, or a decision not to start one? [Tuckness/Wolf]