Ethics - Unwanted Pregnancy: Marquis' and Thomson's Arguments

Introduction

If the arguments against abortion were unique and unquestionable, there would never be a debate of this ethical issue. One of the arguments for the morality of abortion is the "argument violinist." This is a thought experiment that asks us to imagine a situation where we are abducted by a society of music lovers that connects our circulatory system to a famous violinist who had a fatal kidney disease. We would then make the decision to stay connected to the violinist for 9 months, after which he would be cured, or disconnect ourselves from him, killing him. The aim is to reflect on whether we would be morally obligated to accept the situation when it happened against our will or detach us from the violinist who had nothing to do with us. This argument puts everyone in a difficult situation, it would be almost unimaginable wasting nine months of our lives to save the life of a stranger who was attached to us, something that had not even asked.

Discussion

There is, a great inconsistency in the comparison of this argument with a pregnancy. These significant differences were cited in the previous sentence as the factors that most influence them to say that we would not feel a moral obligation to stay connected to the violinist - the fact that he was, for us, a total stranger, and the fact that the connection with he was totally unintentional. A pregnancy that is not what happens (except in rare cases which we shall refer later) (Johnstone). Very early it creates a bond between mother and fetus. This is not only biological, as described in the thought experiment violinist but also emotional.

Marquis' and Thomson's case brings to light the fact that we can assign the family a key ...