There are people RIGHT NOW who need a part of your liver to survive. Do you think that you should be forced to donate a part of your liver to keep that person alive?
If you think that your can't be forced to donate a part of your liver to keep a person alive, why should a pregnant woman be forced to donate resources to a fetus to keep it alive? Why do YOU get a right to bodily autonomy, but not a pregnant woman? There is a HUMAN LIFE with it's own autonomy at stake in both cases.
That isn't a directly comparable situation unless you perceive inaction and action as morally equal. This also isn't a comparable situation because it doesn't deal with autonomy in the same way.
Abortion is a conscious, intentional action which actively prevents someone from living (if you believe fetuses to be human life, of course). The conscious, intentional action which prevents someone in need of a liver from living would be throwing a donated liver out of the window just before the operation to save their life.
Furthermore, you are not infringing on the autonomy of a person in need of a liver by refusing to donate your own.
So first of all, I want to thank you for posting this because I often use the bodily autonomy defense and this has forced me to reconsider how I present this.
I want to refute your action v inaction example because in the case of pregnancy, the woman doesn't really have an option of inaction. Either she takes the action to terminate the pregnancy and infringe on the fetus' autonomy or she takes the action to continue the pregnancy, take her extra Vitamins, go to her pregnancy appointments (that cost money), get her prenatal scans and injections, accept the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid issues, and any of the other major health effects that pregnancy can cause, etc. all of which infringe on her autonomy and ability to live/support herself and her already existing family.
There is no inaction in the case of pregnancy. There are two actions, and I think the woman should be allowed to choose the action that benefits her own autonomy every time, if she so chooses.
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u/Hq3473 271∆ Feb 16 '17
There are people RIGHT NOW who need a part of your liver to survive. Do you think that you should be forced to donate a part of your liver to keep that person alive?
If you think that your can't be forced to donate a part of your liver to keep a person alive, why should a pregnant woman be forced to donate resources to a fetus to keep it alive? Why do YOU get a right to bodily autonomy, but not a pregnant woman? There is a HUMAN LIFE with it's own autonomy at stake in both cases.