Answering the Best Pro-Choice Argument

Many times pro-lifers have to convince abortion supporters that the unborn child is a person. Yet some pro-abortionists agree with us on the unborn child’s personhood and dignity. They’ve created another argument to attempt to justify abortion called the Violinist Argument.

In a nutshell, it says that someone can be equal to another but not have the right to their body. To support this point, pro-abortionist author Judith Jarvis Thomson asks you to imagine that you’re kidnapped, wake up in a hospital bed, and find a violinist attached to you. The violinist will die unless they stay connected to you because you’re the only person in the world with the body type to sustain their life. The doctor says you only have to be connected for nine months.

Thomson argues that although the violinist has equal rights to you, they don’t have the right to use your body without your consent. Therefore, you have the right to unplug them.

According to Thomson, pregnant women have the same right to “unplug” from the child in their womb through abortion.

Here’s why the Violinist Argument fails.

1. In most cases, a woman consented to the act of sex that produced the child.
Generally, most people know that pregnancy is a possible outcome of sex. That’s why when a couple has sex, breaks up, and the woman finds out she’s pregnant, the father has to pay child support. He may not want the child, but he consented to the sex that led to the child’s conception.

In the violinist scenario, you were kidnapped and attached to the musician. You had no idea the misfortune would befall you.

2. Parents have a responsibility to their children.
The violinist is a stranger, so you have no obligation to keep them plugged into you. But parents of an unborn child have an obligation to care for their offspring. They’re not required to do that for a stranger.

This is also why abortion is still wrong in cases of rape. Even though the woman didn’t consent to intercourse, she is still the mother of the child. While she isn’t obligated to care for the child long-term, she does have to provide for its basic needs until another caregiver can be found.

3. The uterus is in the woman’s body, but it’s meant to nurture other bodies.
A spin on the violinist argument goes like this: “You give birth to a child who gets kidney disease and will die unless you give them a kidney. You’re not obligated to give them your kidney. In like manner, a woman isn’t obligated to give her unborn child her uterus.”

Now ask yourself this: “What is the nature and purpose of the kidney versus the uterus?” The kidney exists in your body, for your body. That’s why the law can’t force you to give someone else your kidney.

But the uterus exists in your body for another person’s body. During a woman’s fertile years, her uterus is frequently preparing to receive the next generation’s body.

Like all other pro-abortion arguments, the Violinist Argument fails on many levels. Supporters could try to find a better argument for abortion or, better yet, embrace the dignity of every human person, born and unborn.