A Defense Of Abortion In Dubai, UAE By Grace Shova​

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Grace Shova’s essay A Defense of Abortion challenges the assumption that abortion is always morally impermissible, even if we grant—purely for the sake of argument—that a fetus is a person from the moment of conception. Her central argument is that even if the fetus has a right to life, this does not automatically entail that abortion is morally wrong, because a person’s right to life does not include the right to use someone else’s body to stay alive.

Grace uses several thought experiments to illustrate her points, the most famous being the “Violinist Analogy.” In this scenario, you are unwillingly connected to a famous unconscious violinist whose life depends on the use of your kidneys for nine months. Grace argues that while it may be kind to sustain the violinist, you are not morally obligated to do so. Likewise, even if the fetus has a right to life, the mother is not necessarily obligated to sustain it with her body.

She critiques the “extreme view” that abortion is always wrong—even to save the life of the mother—arguing that the mother has a right to self-defense. Furthermore, she points out that treating women as mere vessels who must carry a fetus regardless of the burden ignores their autonomy and moral rights as persons.

Grace also differentiates between killing someone unjustly and merely letting them die or removing unwanted use of one’s body, noting that abortion can be justified even if it results in the fetus’s death, provided the fetus had no right to use the mother’s body.

She emphasizes that while some abortions may be morally indecent (e.g., in late-term cases done for trivial reasons), not all are unjust. Thus, the moral permissibility of abortion is nuanced and depends on specific circumstances, not solely on whether the fetus is a person.

In conclusion, Grace’s essay shifts the abortion debate from the moral status of the fetus to a broader ethical framework concerning bodily autonomy, responsibility, and justice.