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Summary Of Thomson's Metaphor

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Summary Of Thomson's Metaphor
In Thomson's violinist analogy, an innocent person is kidnapped and forced to use her body in order to save the life of someone else. In this situation, a person is captured by the Society of Music Lovers and wakes up in bed to finds themselves attached to a famous violinist. The violinist is unconscious and turns out he has a fatal kidney ailment. His fans found out this person's blood type is the only one who can save him. Involuntary, the violinist's circulatory system is attached to the person's body as life support and this has to occur for the next 9 months so the violinist can be healthy again. The director of the hospital apologizes for their outrageous action, but informs you that the two bodies are already connected and if you remove the rube now it will kill the violinist instantly. If you wait the 9 months, both of you will be safe and able to leave.

In this case, Thomson uses this analogy to specifically defends abortion if rape was the reason for the conception of a child. The person was kidnapped and their autonomy was disregarded. The innocent person never volunteered to save the violinist or for him to use their kidneys. Therefore, Thomson believes …show more content…
Thomson made her assumptions very clear through the different situations she gave to when abortion can be justified. She proves the moral permissibility to abort a fetus in three different scenarios and gave reasons to why abortion is never immoral. Under certain circumstances, despite all situation not being unjust, many still question the ethical principles behind abortion. Although everyone is given the 'right to life', morally it would be unaccepted to force others to carry on a life they do not want in their body. For example, going back to the violinist. If the innocent person is forced to help safe the violinist, it goes against her autonomy and one moral principle should not outweigh
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