d was at a serious risk; 3) a woman did not plan her pregnancy; it was “accidental”; 4) a woman changed or was persuaded by others to change her mind about having a baby. I don’t think that many people would oppose the moral status of abortion in pregnancy due to rape. Judith Jarvis Thomson did a beautiful job in describing the similar situation, where she pretended that you were kidnapped, and without your personal approval, the famous violinist was plugged into your kidneys, because otherwise he would die. In elaborating and expanding her essay, Judith drove to a conclusion that “... nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interests and concerns, of all other duties and commitments, for nine years, or even nine months, in order to keep another person alive” (p. 289 Contemporary Issues In Bioethics). Let’s say you have done a good deed, you’ve suffered through nine month with the violinist. You let him to use your kidneys; he is alive; you are a hero; everybody is happy. In the case of rape, however, the consequences would not be as nice and easy. A woman would not know who the father of her baby was: either he was a drug addict, or an alcoholic, or someone else. She would definitely know though, that he was not a normal person: he was a rapist. Now she is left alone to take care of this child if she cannot make an abortion. What answer could she give to the question, “Mammy, where is my daddy?” posed by the child, couple of years from that time, if he or she is born. Besides, this child would be genetically predisposed to become a rapist too. Moreover, the woman in question has already suffered tremendously from the act of rape and the physical and psychological aftermath of that act. It would be especially unjust for her to have to live through an unwanted pregnancy owing to that act of rape. After these kinds of arguments, I do n...
