Topic > Thought Experiments in A Defense Of... by Judith Thomson

In this experiment, an innocent celebrity is dying of kidney failure and you are the only one with the correct blood type to save her. Therefore, you are kidnapped and your circulatory system is connected to theirs to save them. The question Thomson asks is whether you are morally obligated to stay in touch with them or not. My intuition is that you are obviously not obligated to stay in touch, regardless of the amount of time asked of you. Thomson argues the same position, with the obvious stipulation that the less asked of you, the more morally degraded you are for refusing to stay in touch (184). This thought experiment aims to demonstrate that abortion in cases of rape is morally permissible. However, this raises the question of whether abortion in the case of conception resulting from consensual intercourse continues to be morally permissible based on the concept that the right to bodily autonomy trumps the right to personal liberty.