Assuming that - you believe abortion is morally and ethically not good,
because that - you believe every person has a right to life and livelihood,
And that - you believe the foetus is a person from the moment of conception.
Let’s examine the rationality of your beliefs in the form of a thought experiment question.
ABORTION ANALOGY: THE DYING VIOLINIST.
“You wake up tied to a bed and surrounded by surgical instruments.”
You look directly up at a flickering off-yellow luminous filament.
You cannot move your arms, you try to move your head,
And you notice that beside you, there is another bed.
There is a man inside that bed, you recognize the face,
You’ve seen it on TV. You see that he has no restraints.
You also see that you are both connected to a single machine,
There is a thin tube that pumps your blood plasma into his side of the screen.
Wait, you remember now. He’s a violinist, he’s been in the news,
Doesn’t he have a fatal blood infection? Some kind of viral flu?
He does have a blood infection. You have the right genetic script.
We’ve kidnapped you to help him, taken your body and connected it to his.
Only your immune system can fight off his viral infection,
No other person can establish the right type of connection.
If we unplug his body from yours right now, he will definitely die.
But if he stays connected for 9 months then he will stay alive.
All people have a right to life, and violinists are persons.
So you must keep him. Now we tell you that this is your purpose.
The violinists right to life outweighs your personal decision,
The violinists right to life is worth more than your opinion.
Does the violinist have rights against your body? That’s the main conception.
Even if this is not what you want, are you obliged to stay connected?
You think it through. They’ve kidnapped you against your will and needs,
But a violinist’s right to life overrides these factors, the ends justify the means.
There’s no doubt it would be very kind of you to let it all continue,
But in the end, are you morally and ethically required to do so?
You decide that it would be alright to keep the violinist supported,
You resolve to keep it up for 9 months and not see his life aborted.
But what if… what if I throw another complication into this mix.
It is no longer 9 months of connection, but now 9 years of this.
There are so many other social, economic, and personal things to consider.
Like what if this violinist was controversial in your country and caused a great deal of stigma?
And what about if this connection was a permanent arrangement?
Now, if this makes you believe that such a thing would be outrageous.
- If you believe the violinist cannot assert such rights over your being,
- If you believe the violinist should be disconnected from the machine.
- If you show dissonance and believe that such a hypothetical is not factual.
Then your original beliefs on abortion are hypocritical and irrational.
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