Single Idea 4061

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

Full Idea

Maybe the right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but in the right not to be killed unjustly.

Gist of Idea

The right to life is not a right not to be killed, but not to be killed unjustly

Source

Judith (Jarvis) Thomson (A Defense of Abortion [1971], p.131)

Book Reference

'Ethics for Modern Life', ed/tr. Abelson,R./Friquegnon,M [St Martin's 1987], p.131


A Reaction

Sounds tautological. There is no right to life, then, but just the requirement that people behave justly?