I. Thomson's Project

• Thomson grants for the sake of argument the premise that a human embryo is a person.

• She challenges the idea that one can argue effectively from this premise to the conclusion that all abortion is morally impermissible.

• She claims that the Basic Argument (my term, not hers) cannot justify the notion that all abortion is morally impermissible.

  The Basic Argument (from 48)

  The fetus is a person and every person has a right to life.
  Therefore, the fetus has a right to life.
  The mother has a right to decide what happens in and to her body.
  But the fetus's right to life outweighs the mothers right to decide what happens in and to her body.
  Therefore, the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed.

• She suggests the following:

  Sometimes abortion is morally permissible:
  at least in (some?) cases where an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother (50-53),
  and (some?) cases where pregnancy stems from rape (65).

II. Proposed Argument for Extreme View (abortion impermissible even to save mother's life)

• The Basic Argument does not justify the Extreme View.

• Another argument in support of the Extreme View:

  In killing the fetus, one would be directly killing an innocent person.
  Directly killing an innocent person is murder.
  Murder is morally impermissible.
  Therefore, killing the fetus is morally impermissible.
  (51-52)

• Thomson claims this other argument also fails.  

  Famous Violinist Thought Experiment (48-49)

III. What the Right to Life Is Not

• It does not include a right to be given at least the bare minimum of what one needs for continued life (55-56). (If it did, then there would be a very short argument to prohibiting abortion except perhaps in cases where the fetus's life threatened the mother's life.)

  Henry Fonda Thought Experiment (55)

• It does not amount to the right not to be killed by anyone. (Again, if it did, then there would be a very short argument to prohibiting abortion except perhaps in cases where the fetus's life threatened the mother's life.)  

  Famous Violinist Thought Experiment Again

IV. What the Right to Life Is and What This Might Imply About Abortion

• "[T]he right to life consists not in the right not be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly" (57).

• If this is what the right to life amounts to, then abortions are morally permissible in (some) cases in which the fetus threatens the mother's life, in (some) cases in which the mother's pregnancy has resulted from rape, and, it seems, in some cases in which the mother has conscientiously used contraception, but this contraception has failed.

  People Seeds Thought Experiment (59)

• Returning to the Basic Argument, it is clear that Thomson rejects the following premise: The fetus's right to life outweighs the mothers right to decide what happens in and to her body.
  
  

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