'A woman has the right to choose an abortion' Discuss (15 marks)

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‘A woman has the right to choose an abortion’ Discuss

I agree with the statement, however there are arguments for and against. To argue for I will be using J.J. Thomson’s violinist analogy and the argument that life does not start at conception. To argue against I will be using Natural Law and Christian ethics.

J.J Thomson asks us to imagine waking up and finding yourself connected with a famous violinist. You know that if you disconnect yourself now, he will die but if you disconnect yourself in 9 months’ time he will survive. She likens this to pregnancy, a woman with a baby surviving from her. She says that just as you would have the right to remove yourself from the violinist, a woman should have the right to terminate her pregnancy. It is her body that is being used as a means to an end.

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Another argument would be that life does not start at conception and so we cannot consider a foetus as a separate life until it can survive outside the body. Science shows that the organs of a foetus develop at 35 weeks, so I don’t think that it can be considered a separate life until then. Just as any man is able to remove a tumour that is surviving on his body purely by using his body, a woman should be able to choose an abortion.

Christians however, may disagree, using the Sanctity of Life as an argument. The Sanctity of ...

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