ot think that many people would try to convince me otherwise. “Can those who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned make an exception for a pregnancy due to rape? Certainly. They can say that persons have a right to life only if they didn’t come into existence because of rape;“ (p. 284 Contemporary...). From the readings I’ve done, I have found out that there are some people, who actually regard abortion as impermissible even to save the mother’s life. I don’t know who these people might be, but this is ridiculous. I absolutely disagree with the notion that the act of abortion should be considered immoral, if a mother is trying to save her own life. In one of our class discussions, we came to a conclusion that it is wrong to kill an innocent person in order to save your life. Of course this argument is a subject to debates and quarrels; as Judith Jarvis Thomson has shown that it also depends on a situation. Killing of an innocent person is undoubtedly wrong, however, the fetus is not a living person. Therefore, “ . . . it cannot seriously be thought to be murder if the mother performs an abortion on herself to save her life. It cannot seriously be said that she must refrain, that she must sit passively by and wait for her death” (p. 285 Contemporary . . .). Hence, I can conclude that a woman can protect her life against the danger imposed on her by the unborn child, even if doing so causes its death. Utilitarians would choose abortion as the right thing to do in both of these cases. It would minimize unpleasure and bring greatest amount of good to the maximum number of people -- for a pregnant woman and her family. To my opinion, a person who is committed to Kantian theory, would argue against abortion on the premises that a moral act is the one that is done from one’s duty. One of the women’s duties is to produce and bring up children; therefore, it would be ...
