Thomson Abortion

Why Is Abortion A Concern To People?

Philosophical and Historical Perspectives

I.Introduction

One of the biggest moral issue today is woman's rights with abortion. Many people argued for the rights to keep abortion while others argued for banning it. In the article "The Rights of a Woman Do Not Outweigh the Rights of A Child" by Judith Jarvis Thomson, who is a philosopher and invented an analogy for her debate, talks about how a child has more right than the mother in the case of abortion and that abortion is the same thing as "killing" , Thomson says. Thomson claims the idea that anyone can argue that all abortion is impermissible. The article "Abortions Should Be Restricted to Before Twenty Weeks Gestation" by Douglas Johnson who is
the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, argues that abortion should be legal up to twenty weeks of pregnancy, because the fetus does not perceive pain before twenty weeks of pregnancy. The purpose of this paper is to view the structure, language and reference from both articles and to give the audience a better understanding coming from two different authors.

II.Structure

Both articles are structured with their own and various contents of the topic and both begin in different ways by bringing the first thing both authors think about abortion.
Johnson starts off by going back to history telling the audience Roe v. Wade was announced during the "Dark Ages" stating "In the ensuing decades, knowledge regarding the development of unborn humans, and their capacities at various stages of growth, has advanced in quantum leaps." (Johnson), putting an example of why doctors should administer anesthesia into an unborn child around twenty weeks of pregnancy. Thomson's article starts off by explaining the alteration between baby rights and mother's rights coming from her very own perspective. She begins with how a woman has the right to choose her own lifestyle and how they want to live as long as it does not take away someone else's right to live and jumping straight to facts explaining her reasons. A difference between Johnson's and Thomson's articles is that Thomson gives her own analogy for her choice and debate on abortion and describes it as "...someone waking up strapped to a famous, but unconscious violinist." (Thomson). She uses this analogy to give the audience a different and better view on abortion. Thomson also uses number of rebuttals on her arguments and debates after each one of her paragraphs from each content. The two articles contrast in using examples. Thompson brings out more examples and has a bigger argument with abortion and the
rights of a human being to live, and Johnson only argues on the basics on why abortion should be legal up to twenty weeks.

III.Language

On the other hand, the languages being used in these articles are quiet different from each other. Johnson uses more proper use of words or terms like "brute manual force" instead of "killing" or "dying" to try not to scare the audience. Johnson's use of words sets more of a formal, serious tone, while Thompson is more direct by using cliché words and meanings such as "killing" which sets the tone of the article negative and unhappy. An example of proper use of words in Johnson's article will be, "Infants born as early as 23 or 24 weeks now commonly survive long term in neonatal intensive care units. Neonatologists confirm that they react negatively to painful stimuli—" (Johnson). Thompson's article is more direct; saying, "Therefore, it is reasonable for society to expect an adult to live temporarily with an inconvenience if the only alternative is killing a child." (Thompson). She also states, "Murder is morally impermissible.", which gives it more of an intense tone. The differences in the languages these two articles carry, it still gives all audiences an understanding of how two authors see the issue of abortion.

IV.Reference

Though, both articles are referenced in similar ways. Each of these articles set in MLA (Modern Language Association) style, formatted in short paragraphs with its own content based on abortion. Although the articles differ in one way; Johnson gathers direct quotes from the US Congress and Thomson gathers quotes from outside people and New York Times newspapers. Both articles are formatted and referenced in the way the audience can understand the authors view from each content of the topic.

V.Conclusion

After viewing the structure, language, and reference from both Johnson's and Thomson's articles, the authors explain why abortion is a big issue today with different reasons from one another and why these two articles gave the audience a better understanding coming from two different people.
"Abortion Should Be Restricted to Before Twenty Weeks Gestation" has shown the audience Johnson's point in why there's a certain time period when abortion should be illegal by giving the reasons and details coming from studies. "The Rights of a Woman Do Not Outweigh The Rights of A Child" gives others who are against abortion a better mindset on why a child deserves more or equal rights as the mother. Both articles have its differences and also have its few amount of
similarities.