Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, April 8, 2013

Judith Jarvis Thompson 16-2

Judith gives us some interesting things to think about when considering abortion but I believe there are too many factors to consider to say that she provides a strong argument. For example she claims that if a woman is on contraceptive and becomes pregnant she has no moral responsibility to keep the child because she took all necessary steps to prevent its conception. But the obvious problem here is that birth control, like condoms and birth control, aren't 100% reliable. So they knew that there was a very small chance the contraception might not work so are they really morally released from the child/fetus? To look at it a different way you could ask does a woman have a moral obligation to the child or not if she was told by a doctor that she was incapable of having a child? Does that change things?

As far as the example having to do with being hooked up to a violinist I believe there are too many differences between being pregnant and having a child as opposed to being hooked up to someone and that because of these differences you can't really relate the too examples. For example, is being pregnant and having a child really like being hooked up to someone and having to keep them alive for the rest of your life? Contraceptive isn't 100% reliable and engaging in intercourse brings with it the risk of pregnancy but with the violinist case one has done nothing to risk being hooked up to someone to keep them alive.

4 comments:

  1. kaitlyn bennett11:27 AM CDT

    the only thing i can think of that would relate the two examples would be the fact that being hooked up to someone to keep them alive is similar to caring for a child because children can't take care of themselves so in essence the caretaker has to keep the child alive also.

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  2. adam thomas11:29 AM CDT

    i agree with Jacob, since the woman knows there is still a chance that she can become pregnant even while on birth control i don't think she is totally released from the responsibility of the child and free to get an abortion.

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    Replies
    1. agreed, and as for the example of a doctor saying a woman cant get pregnant and then she does, i still don't think it should be morally okay just because a doctor who may or may not have faulty information told you otherwise.
      doctors are wrong all the time right?

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  3. I agree with Kaitlyn, there is a huge difference in being connected for nine months and being connected for nine months and having to support the person for 18 years after that nine months.

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