PHIL 201 Lecture Notes - Fetus, Self-Awareness, Moral Agency
Document Summary
Defending abortion is normally a liberal position to take. To defend that the fetus is a person is a conservative view. Thomson says, even if you establish that a fetus is a person, you can still defend abortion, according to her. Whereas normally when you establish the fetus is a person then you are automatically arguing against abortion. This is not her position, she doesn"t necessarily agree with this, but lets see if it works. She argues it is still defensible, in limited cases. You can still defend abortion if you agree that a fetus is a person. First she argues that human beings have a right to life. It is not just because were humans that we have rights. We could say because we are person we have rights. But this is not really hitting it exactly. Well it"s a refrigerator, that doesn"t tell you anything.
