A Defense Of Abortion Rhetorical Analysis

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The controversy behind the idea of abortion has been around for centuries. Abortion, if you are unaware, is the deliberate termination of human pregnancy with the usage of surgery. Furthermore, the two contrasting views regarding this bout are pro-life, those who consider abortion as committing murder, and pro-choice, those who believe that it is a woman’s right to do to her body what she feels fit. Over the years, many arguments have been created regarding whether abortion is moral or immoral. Two known opposing arguments that we will be looking at are Don Marquis’s “Why Abortion is Immoral,” and Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion.” After analyzing and critically assessing these two conflicting views, we will decide whether Mrs.…show more content…
This is where Thomson utilizes again another thought experiment to prove her point; the burglar and people-seeds analogies. In this case, it is a stuffy day, and a woman decides to open her window unknowingly that a burglar climbs in. Following this, Thomson modifies the thought experiment to people’s seed drifting into the house. Thomson states that the woman secures her windows with fine mesh. However, since the mesh turns out to be defective, the seed drifts in and takes root. Thomson states, “It would be absurd to say, ‘Ah, now he can stay, she’s given him the right to the use of her house – for she is partially responsible for his presence there’ ” (Thomson 444). What Thomson is trying to explain in this quote is that even though the woman knew what she was getting into, it does not mean she intended for a burglar or a seed to enter. So in the case of a woman using a contraception and protection, it is true they knew they could get pregnant, but it is not true that they intended to get pregnant. So the woman should not be morally responsible for the…show more content…
Marquis’s argument is how abortion is seriously immoral, and that it is equivalent to murdering an innocent adult human being. Marquis starts of his dispute by stating what the problem is and why he’s arguing in the first place. Based on Marquis, the argument on both, the pro-life side and pro-choice side are unappealing to their opposition. Marquis states that the anti-abortionist principles are too broad, whereas, the pro-choice principles are too narrow. This is where Marquis purposes his argument. Marquis attacks this argument by first dropping the matter, whether the fact the fetus is an actual person or not and focusing on finding the reason for why killing human beings is wrong. According to Marquis, what makes killing immoral is not depriving someone of their biological life, but taking away from them their potential property, which is their valuable future. Marquis states this is what makes killings one of the worst crimes. Marquis then applies this reasoning for depriving one of their valuable future to abortion. Marquis states, “The Future of a standard fetus includes a set of experiences, projects, activities, and such which are identical with the futures of adult human beings and identical with the futures of young children. Since the reason that is sufficient to explain why it is wrong to kill human beings after the time of birth is a reason that also applies to fetuses, it follows that
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