Classics Made Simple x Both Sides
J.J. Thomson, A Defense of Abortion
Keywords: abortion, pro-choice, rights
Thought Experiment #1
Goal: To illustrate that conception being voluntary does not neccessariy give the fetus the right to use the woman's body.
"If the room is stuffy, and I therefore open a window to air it, and a burglar climbs in, it would be absurd to say,"Ah, now he can stay, she's given him a right to the use of her house-for she is partially responsible for his presence there, having voluntarily done what enabled him to get in, in full knowledge that there are such things as burglars, and that burglars burgle. It would be still more absurd to say [that I have given the burglar a right to use my house] if I had had bars installed outside my windows, precisely to prevent burglars from getting in, and a burglar got in only because of a defect in the bars."
Analysis
House = Person's body
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Burglar = Fetus
Bars = Contraceptive Measures
Thought Experiment #2
"Suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You don't want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not-despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective. Someone may argue that you are responsible for its rooting, that it does have a right to your house, because after all you could have lived out your life with bare floors and furniture, or with sealed windows and doors. But this won't do-for by the same token anyone can avoid a pregnancy due to rape by having a hysterectomy, or anyway by never leaving home without a (reliable!) army."
Criticisms
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1. There is a lack of information in the thought experiment relative to a real case of abortion. That is, our status of knowledge on important matters, such as whether people-seeds can feel pain, is not provided.
2. The thought experiment is not an apt analogy of abortion -- the "drifting-around" of people seeds and the description that the person feels "stuffed", give them an intrusive connotation.