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Killing and Letting Die

Judith Jarvis Thomson on page 871 is quoted to have made an argument for abortion with the defense that no person no matter what status is entitled to the use of another person’s body; implying the fetus has no absolute right to the mother’s body.
The first objection to this line of thought is that though no one has the absolute right to another’s body the situation in abortion is that the fetus is a living creature. The creature is a result of the mother’s action, and so the life of this fetus was not forced on the mother’s body. Therefore, one cannot dispute that it is living in her body minus her consent because she understands the repercussions of the actions of unprotected sex. Secondly if this line of thought is upheld, it means that no one is ultimately responsible for another person no matter the age of that person. The issue raises many more questions and debates because nature ultimately dictates that a child cannot be held responsible for another child’s life. An adult has to be held responsible and whether the circumstances looked at are of omission or action the logic presented by Thomson releases the responsibility of individuals which is morally unethical.
Supporting this proposal would entail that a father killing his 5year old son who entirely depends on his father for survival is okay. On a bigger scale, whether it’s referred to as abortion or any other term the bottom line is that a life is ended. The worst part of all is that the life terminated here is that of an innocent being unlike the one whose life is ended as a punishment for an act previously done. Abortion should be viewed with the same intensity similar to terrorism. For example, when a woman is killed in her apartment by a grenade thrown into her house by her neighbor who happens to be a terrorist. The whole world will rise against the neighbor responsible for the act of bombing his neighbor and in turn denying him the right to life. Getting back to Thomson’s theory the fetus is in the place where it is meant to be, and the right to life applies to it because it is breathing. The mother is the immediate neighbor to the child; if the mother commits the act of abortions then she is like the terrorist attacking innocent people.
In conclusion, every person has a responsibility to ensure that the right to life is practical. Taking the scenario of a hunter who always hunts carefully but one day accidentally shoots an innocent passerby and the only way for the passerby to survive by the use of the hunter’s body. It becomes the responsibility of the hunter to ensure that that by passer is kept alive even if it entails that it comes at a high cost to the hunter. The same can be said about the woman she has the duty of ensuring that the fetus is kept alive because it’s because of the woman’s actions that that fetus is there. The right to life is fundamental right to all people. The right applies to human as a being because it is a God-given right. There is no one who has the justification to take away a life no matter how small it is because it is a life.