Paul Savoy

People who support abortion rights have failed to convincingly argue for abortion in moral terms, argues Paul Savoy in the following viewpoint. He questions the inference—held by many on both sides of the abortion question—that if the fetus is a person, abortion must therefore be murder. Abortion, he asserts, is best seen as the refusal to let one’s body be used as a life support system. Refusing to perform such a nine-month act of self- sacrifice may be a selfish decision, but it is not equivalent to murder. Savoy is an attorney and former law professor at Southwestern University in Los Angeles and the University of California at Davis.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What argument of Judith Jarvis Thomson does Savoy utilize?
2. Why is the moral status of an unborn child...