Thomson

The Standard View

Because the fetus has a right to life that outweighs the mother's control over her body, abortion is impermissible (except perhaps to save the mother's life).

The Violinist

You're kidnapped and plugged into a famous violinist who needs your kidneys for nine months. It shows that a right to life doesn't include a right to use another person's body.

The Extreme View:

Abortion is impermissible even to save the mother's life, because directly killing an innocent person is never allowed.

The Deadly Violinist:

A variant where staying plugged in will kill you. It shows the Extreme View is untenable, since no one must sacrifice their life to keep another alive.

The Weaker View

A more moderate position on which the fetus has a right to life but it doesn't automatically override everything else. Rights have to be interpreted, not treated as absolute trumps.

Right to life

Not a right to whatever you need to stay alive, but roughly a right not to be killed unjustly.

The burglar case:

You leave a window unlocked and a burglar climbs in. Being partly responsible for his presence doesn't give him a right to stay. It targets the argument that voluntary intercourse hands the fetus a right to the woman's body.

Moral wrongness vs. what we ought to do:

Some acts aren't wrong (not unjust, no rights violated) even though a better or more generous person would do otherwise.

Good Samaritan:

Someone who makes major sacrifices to help others.

Minimally Decent Samaritan:

Someone who does only the low-cost minimum that morality plausibly requires. Thomson argues that's all morality demands.