MIT OpenCourseWare http ocw mit edu 24 06J STS 006J Bioethics Spring 2009 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use visit http ocw mit edu terms Bioethics Session 9 Handout Thomson on Abortion Thomson has us suppose that the early fetus has all the rights of an adult human being In particular she has us suppose that the fetus has just as strong a right to life as you or I do Still she says it is sometimes morally permissible to abort it Consider Case 1 The mother s life is at stake It is permissible for the mother to abort because it is permissible to kill innocents with strong rights to life in self defense Example the expanding baby It is permissible for a doctor to perform the abortion because the mother has a property right to use of her body and it is in cases like this permissible to kill innocents in order to enforce property rights Example the scarce provisions Case 2 The mother s life is not at stake but the pregnancy resulted from rape Does aborting violate the right to life of the early fetus We need to think carefully about the right to life is Rights theorists distinguish two sorts of rights Liberty Rights in virtue of which others are obliged not to interfere with you Claim Rights in virtue of which some others are obliged to aid you The early fetus has a liberty right to life in virtue of which people are obliged not to murder it But does it have a claim right to life in virtue of which the mother is obliged to aid it in staying alive No says Thomson Generally you get a claim right that obliges me to aid you only if I have given you such a right by making a promise or entering into a contract or something like that Examples Henry Fonda the Violinist Viability is key then The mother can permissibly refuse to aid the fetus But she cannot permissibly insist that it be killed when it can live on without her aid Case 3 As before but the pregnancy resulted from contraception failure Is this case did the mother give the early fetus a claim right to life just by voluntarily having sex No says Thomson you need to do more to give the fetus a claim right You need to invite it in Example the people seeds Case 4 As before but the pregnancy was deliberate Thomson concedes that in this sort of case mother did give the fetus a claim right to life A Wrinkle sometimes we are obliged to aid people who have no right to our aid Distinguish The Minimal Respecter of Rights who just avoids violating rights The Minimally Decent Samaritan who also helps when it is not too costly The Good Samaritan who helps whenever she can no matter the cost Thomson concedes that maybe we are obliged to be Minimally Decent Samaritans example nearby Henry Fonda but we are not obliged to be Good Samaritans Problems for Thomson Doesn t this mean that infanticide is sometimes morally okay Example the island birth Doesn t proximity give rise to strong obligations to aid Example the drowning toddler