Abortion: moral problems in contemporary life essay

Abortion is one of the most widely controversial issues that exist in all societies. In this essay I will analyze two different viewpoints. One opinion is from Judith Jarvis Thomson who is a professor of philosophy at the Massachussets Institute of Technology.

In the other side from Serrin M. Foster who is the president of Feminist for life of America, an organization which dedicates to find practical solutions to the root causes that drive women to choose abortion. Judith Jarvis Thomson wrote a paper called “ A defense of Abortion” where she exposes through a thought experiment that the fetus has the right to life. Thomson defends abortion even she doesn’t believe in.

For she there is an ethical that is resumed in this question: if both mother and fetus are both human and both have rights to life, can abortion be ethically permitted where the woman does not want to continue her pregnancy? In order to solve this problem, she mentions a thought experiment that consists in the next. “ You wake up in the morning and fine yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist who has kidney ailment… the Society of Music Lovers kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own… To unplug would be to kill him. But, it is only for nine months.” Thomson takes that example saying that you may now permissibly unplug yourself from the violinist even though this will cause his death. Thomson also mentions: there is no right to use another person’s body, and so by unplugging the violinist you do not violate his right to life. So if you allow him to go on using your kidneys, this is a kindness on your part, and not something he can claim from you as your duty.

Even though she explains that case, I think abortion is more controversial because it involves factors that are not mentioned in the violinist image. For example; the act of unplugging yourself is justified like a self-defense because it was the result of an assault. In the other hand we all know that the development of a child in the womb is not an example of assault or so. Another consideration is the next one. In the violinist’s case we know that if we unplugging from him he will died because he has a kidney ailment not because of us.

In abortion’s case it is different due to we directly kill the child in the womb. So I can imply that both acts have different moral implications. Thomson’s essay supposes that the violinist and the victim are unrelated, what she means is that they are totally strangers. In abortion is totally different because mother and child are yoking. So, when a child born, he becomes a son or daughter of the woman, which is a strong relationship between them.

In this case we expected that the mother do things for her child that strangers are not expected to do each other. All in all, she concludes her position by stating she thinks that there are circumstances where an abortion is morally permissible; however she also says that there are situations where it is not acceptable. The other author that I mentioned at the beginning of this essay is called Serrin M. Foster.

In her essay she talks about other feminist authors and their opinion about abortion. For example, she talks about Elizabeth Cady and Susan B. Anthony opinion, where they declare abortion is defined as “ Child Murder”. Another feminist Alice Paul says “ Abortion is the ultimate exploitation to women”. Finally Foster talks about Feminist for Life’s philosophy, they say, “ women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy also deserved joy. As we can see, what these feminist people is trying to say is that all humans beings embrace basic rights, without regard race, religion, sex, size, age, location, disability or parentage.

So feminist rejects the use of force to destroy another due to abortion violates all these principles. Foster also talks about statistics and average people who decide practicing abortion. Some of the problems that she concluded about this information are: women are afraid about hold support as well as domestic violence and the women at highest risks or practicing abortion are college age. She says that College women, feel threaten of people. It happens because there is no respect to them; I mean students see a student pregnant as an exotic animal walking in the school.

Another problem is that many universities don’t have enough help for these students. She explains that university offers loans to practice abortions instead of financial aids to support the baby. In my opinion I think all students must receive enough information about pregnant students as well as abortion issues. The next part of the Serrin M. Foster essay talks about the damage that abortion cause in women.

She mentions that abortion may generate infertility, future abortions unwished and sometimes death. Another important harm that abortion can bring about in women is a psychiatric disorder due to it is a problem that most of the time they have to solve by theiselves I mean without any other source of help. Summarizing, Foster tries to explain society’s necessities in order to control abortion. So that she proposes to look the real root of the problem that drives women to practice abortion.

Among this things we must listen to women who had have abortions, men should be more sensible as partners in problem solving, we need to hear and create plans that eliminate the root causes that drive so many women to hurt theirselves. In conclusion, I think abortion is a problem that has to be faced for all societies. Abortion is just a meaning that society has failed because we have not met the needs of the women. So what both authors propose is to find solutions that lead women to avoid this practice.