This essay will examine and critique A Defense of Abortion (1971) by Judith Jarvis Thomson. Thomson sets out to show that the fetus has no right to the mother's body and that it would not be unjust to perform an abortion when the mother's life is not threatened. For the sake of his argument, Thomson takes the conservative view that the fetus is a person from the moment of conception. The conservative argument asserts that every person has the right to life. The fetus has the right to life. There is no doubt that the mother has the right to decide what happens in and with her body. But a person's right to life is surely stronger than the mother's right to decide the fate of her body, and therefore trumps that right. Thus, the fetus cannot be killed and an abortion cannot be performed (Thomson, 1971). In response to this argument, Thomson uses his violinist analogy. You were kidnapped by the Society of Music Lovers and woke up to find that your circulatory system was hooked up to a famous violinist suffering from kidney failure. It has been discovered that only your blood type can help the violinist. The hospital director apologizes for what happened, but untying you now would kill the violinist. You must remain attached to the violinist for the next nine months, after which the violinist can be safely disconnected from you (Thomson, 1971). The conservative argument would assert that the violinist, as a person, has the right to life, so surely that would trump your right to decide what happens to your body. We must therefore stay connected to the violinist because to disconnect from him would be to kill him. The fact that the violinist requires the use of your kidneys for his sur...... middle of paper ......where to grow over the next nine months? It is unlikely that society will consent to people growing seeds at home. An important point that shows the inability of this analogy to justify abortion is that one cannot compare having sex and conceiving a child to opening a window that lets in seeds. This does not adequately reflect conception or pregnancy. You can also suggest that people's seeds be transplanted from your mat to grow elsewhere without killing them. Therefore, the analogy with the seeds of the people fails to justify abortion. By critically examining Thomson's (1971) three analogies: the violinist analogy, Henry Fonda and People Seeds, these three analogies fail to show that it is not unfair to deny the fetus the right to the mother's body. Therefore, the fetus has the right not to be killed unjustly and to be able to use its mother's womb..