Abortion

            A good argument is one that is able to extend itself in all directions. An argument should identify certain concepts, obtain clear facts, and look for consistency and coherence in all circumstances. Moral arguments should be based on reason. Moreover, the terms that are used to press the argument must be identified because there are different concepts for the same word. Thus, certain words may have numerous impressions and in an argument the view must be clear through out. The argument for the "right to life- and the "fetus is a person- does not adhere to the criteria of a good argument because they are not flexible in all scenarios. The case for the "right to life- does not clarify the definition of a fetus, and the concepts challenge themselves when certain circumstances arise. Thomason points out that the entire argument is inconsistent because what if a mother was physically unable to bare a child, and she risked the chances of death. Would an abortion in this case still be that the child has the right not to die?.
             Most abortion debates build their argument on the definition that the fetus is a person. If this is the case, then abortion is obviously wrong and illegal. The problem with this set up is that what if a mother is physically threatened if she were to bare her child, then is her life (as a legitimate person) more or less important than that life of a fetus? This is a clear negation and as a result, the definition of a fetus must be reestablished. Hence, bodily autonomy is more important than pro-life, starting from the argument that the fetus is a person to the argument that abortion is always wrong.
             The next problem that needs to be addressed is what if abortion is legalized, how should the fetus be defined? This is difficult because it is arbitrary to claim when or not the fetus is human because by nature there is not a reasonable cut off point. Therefore, claiming that a fetus is a person cannot be used by pro-life advocates because they cannot explain the steps of development from "fetus- to "person-.