Roe v. Wade is gone.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In Breezy's failed analogy, the dialysis 'machine' is another person. It fails because the correspondence with a pregnant woman and a foetus is simply nonsensical. 

Boru

That's interesting; I like the analogy but it isn't mine. It's one of the most popular and famous pro-choice arguments, developed by Judith Thomson.

I’m aware. I meant ‘the analogy used by Breezy in this thread.’

As much as I admire Dr. Thomson, let’s consider why this particular thought experiment doesn’t work. 

1. In Thomson’s argument, both the violinist and the unwilling patient are conscious, aware, sensate, adult human beings. This is not the case with the foetus and the mother.

2. In a significant number of abortions, the procedure is done to save the life of the mother. In Thomson’s experiment, the unwilling patient is not said to be in any danger.

3. Thomson nowhere states that unwilling patient, if not disconnected from the violinist, will be required to clothe, feed, house, care for, and educate the violinist for the next 18 years.

The thought experiment is successful primarily in establishing the primacy of bodily autonomy and has consequently cause the anti-abortion crowd to redirect their objections, but I think it’s a little much to say that it has ‘won them over’. It hasn’t ever struck me as a particularly strong argument for abortion rights, per se. Her stances on personal privacy seem more effective.

Boru