The novel, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, is a dystopian novel set in a world where . Sixteen year-old Connor Lassiter gets his life completely turned around when he discovers that his parents have signed a contract that states that he can be ‘unwound’. Being unwound in this futuristic world, is a form of abortion for teenagers aged thirteen to eighteen, where their body parts are harvested until someone needs them, yet still stay alive. Connor runs away from home and manages to disappear for one day until he is tracked down by the police and his father on a busy highway. Full of adrenaline and fear, Connor grabs the nearest person to him to use as a hostage and as a shield against the onslaught of sedatives the police are firing, Levi
In Judith A. Thomson’s article, ‘A defense of abortion’ Thomson defends her view that in some cases abortion is morally permissible. She takes this stance even with the premise that fetuses upon the moment of conception are in fact regarded as persons. However one criticism of her argument would be that there is a biological relationship between mother and fetus however there is no biological relationship between you and the violinist. Having this biological relationship therefore entails special responsibility upon the mother however there is no responsibility in the case of the violinist. Thomson argues against those who are opposed to abortion with her violinist thought experiment.
The issue of abortion is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues faced by modern societies. This issue leads to topics of whether abortion is right or wrong, if it is the actual killing of a person, and what actually defines the moral status of a fetus. In this paper, I will be arguing against Bonnie Steinbock, who believes that abortions are morally acceptable. So I will be supporting the view that abortions are not morally acceptable.
When you think of unwinding, you probably imagine yourself sun tanning and drinking a martini on the beach. You probably see all of your worries disappear and paradise is very nearly near. In the breathtaking novel Unwind by Neal Shusterman, the teens of the world feel anything but relieved when they hear the word. Instead, they envision a world in which they no longer exist. At least, not in the way they used to. Unwind is a novel set in a dystopian society in a future time period, suffering the after effects of the Hartland War. The war was between the Pro-life and Pro-choice sides of society. A compromise was reached post war; it was called unwinding. Unwinding allowed teens to be harvested for all of their body parts. This novel tells the tale of three main teens who are to be sacrificed for unwinding. Risa, Connor and Lev struggle to stay out of sight until their 18th year when they will be considered free citizens. In Unwind, the story makes one question why a society would even consider something as radical and inhumane as unwinding. From it, we can connect to times in our own history when we made less than ideal compromises and evaluate the concept of unwinding as a whole.
Merriam-Webster defines abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. Quite predictably, abortion has been one of the most heavily debated topics of our generation and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future. Abortion is now legal in the United States because of the Supreme Court case of Roe vs. Wade. There are several different opinions on whether it is morally permissible to terminate a pregnancy, ranging from abortion at all stages is immoral to abortion is moral only before the 20th week of pregnancy. In my opinion, American moral philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson has one of the best stances on abortion.
Will Singer expands his argument on a utilitarian idea in order to measure the ethical behavior in people. He believes that the ethical behavior shown towards people should not be less towards animals based on their knowledge and mental capabilities. However, I believe that when it comes to an abortion, it may depend. Singer briefly introduces an example with a disabled infant. He claimed that although the parents asked the doctor to painlessly kill the infant who has gone into an unrecoverable “vegetable” state, the doctor should not do as they ask due to the “sanctity of life.” Since Singer also believes that fetuses do not deserve to be killed since they already possess the right to life, especially at a late term. He also claimed that killing
In her essay “Abortion, Intimacy, and the Duty to Gestate,” Margaret Olivia Little examines whether it should be permissible for the state to force the intimacy of gestation on a woman against her consent. Little concludes that “mandating gestation against a woman’s consent is itself a harm - a liberty harm” (p. 303). She reaches this conclusion after examining the deficiencies in the current methods used to examine and evaluate the issues of abortion. Their focus on the definition of a “person” and the point in time when the fetus becomes a distinct person entitled to the benefits and protections of the law fails to capture “the subtleties and ambivalences that suffuse the issue” (p. 295). Public debate on the right to life and the right
The Walls are Talking by Abby Johnson is an important book that every person considering abortion should read. As the women in the book account the tales of their abortions it is hard for the reader not to be horrified by the grotesque and dangerous actions taking place in abortion clinics. The Walls are Talking not only terrifies the reader of the true nature of abortion but also makes them empathize with the emotional turmoil that these women are thrown into. This can be seen particularly in one of the stories where a woman who already had nine abortions asked to see the ultrasound of her baby being aborted. The sight of her baby’s murder was so powerful that she decided she would no longer advocate for abortion.
When it comes to ethical issues in the world, there are not many more controversial issues outside of the topic of abortion. Abortion brings in emotion, religion and ethics all at once, which is why it is such a polarizing topic. This leads to having many on each side of the debate, such as Judith Thomson and John Noonan. Thomson makes many valid analogies in support of abortion in comparison to Noonan who just refutes basic arguments for abortion, and it is for this reason that Thomson is more persuasive.
To put it simply, an abortion is defined as, the intentional termination of a pregnancy most often preformed before the third trimester (within weeks 1-28). The controversy over abortions usually stems from the difficulty between individuals to agree on a set of conditions that would constitute ones’ decision, to abort as just. This issue is examined by many philosophers, particularly, Judith Thomson and Don Marquis. Both philosopher’s views loosely encompass the complex underlying beliefs of those who stand behind the “pro-life” and “pro-choice” arguments. Tomson and Marquis demonstrate the very distinctively different perspectives one could take on the issue. Don Marquis suggests that fetuses, being persons, possess the right to a “future like ours” and that it would be wrong to intentionally impede on “the life that I would have lived if I had lived out my natural lifespan” except for in “rare circumstances”. While, Tomson asserts that not all abortions are morally wrong, nor do they “violate the victim’s right to life”, and by having one that is in no way indicative that a fetus’s rights have been violated. Despite the fact that both philosophers present valid positions, and outline their key differences, Tomson goes far beyond Marquis’ efforts by illustrating that the way in which we view abortions ought to be redefined in order for one to maintain a clear perspective.
Imagine living in a world where parents can send their children to be killed by removing their body parts one by one for medical reasons, if they were rebellious or were unnecessary in their life. In Neil Shusterman's novel, Unwind, one is shown a world where abortion is illegal, so instead parents are allowed to have their children unwound between the ages of 13 to 18. Like many others, Conner, Risa, and Lev, are faced with the betrayal of their parents and are sent off to be medically murdered. As soon as Conner finds out his parents don't want him anymore, he runs away and along the away helps two others escape the same fate. Risa is on the same boat as Conner but Lev on the other hand is a tithe and actually wants to be unwound because
Bertha, M. (2014). Pro-Life, Pro-Choice : Shared Values in the Abortion Debate. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. https://fortlewis.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search- ebscohost-com.fortlewis.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&AN=edspmu.9780826519924&site=eds-live&scope=site Throughout this book, Bertha claims that she is for pro choice, but at the end of the reading, she states that she has changed her beliefs to pro life. This specific author performed studies, exams, courses, and clinicals and discovered the facts about the harm that takes place to your body after having an abortion. Bertha discusses the hard, mental griefs and traumas that follow the procedure, as well as the uneasy argument about the virtuous worth of the human fetus. The author brings experience to the discussion through the psychological department, being an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at Arizona State University, as well as having written many informative and knowledgeable articles.
Judith Jarvis Thomson proposes her argument in her article, A Defense of Abortion. There, she explains to her readers during what circumstances is abortion justifiable. Thomson uses the argument by analogy strategy to explain to her readers her argument. She tries to reach her conclusion by comparing it to similar cases. The point she is trying to make is to tell her readers that abortion is morally permissible only in some cases, like when the mother has been a victim of rape, when contraception has failed or when the pregnancy is of danger to the mother. She explains to her readers that abortion is justifiable only in some cases, not all. Thomson uses the case of a violinist to show her readers that abortion is morally permissible when a woman has been victim of rape. She also uses the people seeds story as an analogy to explain that abortion is morally acceptable when contraception has failed. Thomson also mentions the right to life in her article. She uses the right to life to explain to us that it is morally justifiable for the mother to abort the fetus when the fetus is endangering the mother’s life. In order to help her readers understand the notion of right to life she is trying to propose to us, she does so by using the Henry Fonda example. In my point of view, I find most of Thomson’s analogies irrelevant to the argument she is trying to make. I will explain to my readers why I find Thomson’s analogies irrelevant.
Abortion is a controversial issue with many agreements and disagreements. The novel, ¨Unwind¨ written by Neal Shusterman portrays an alternative and dark solution throughout the novel. In Unwind, a second civil war had taken place in the United States over the issue of abortion. As a result, a process called ¨unwinding¨ was reached as a compromise between the pro-life and pro-choice armies. Unwinding is when a parent chooses to abort their child between the ages of thirteen and eighteen with the condition that the child´s life doesn't technically end.
'The Abortion' by Anne Sexton is a first person narrative poem in the style of a stream of consciousness and conveys a woman's emotional and physical journey whilst undergoing an abortion. I intend to discuss how through the effective use of imagery, tone, symbolism and word choice the poet successfully builds up an atmosphere which adds to your appreciation of the poem.
Being a mother is one of the best gifts from a life. A mother gives her children unconditional love without expecting anything in return. Being a mother means more than having given birth to a child. It is an invisible connection between mother and child; it is a blessing, a relationship that never ends and the love that never dies. However, for some women, motherhood might be challenging in ways they did not expect, forcing them to choose between having an abortion and keeping the child. The debate over abortion is an ardent and polarizing issue as there are those who believe that all humans including those unborn should have a right to life, and on the other side of the spectrum are those who believe it should a woman's right to choose whether she wants an abortion or not. This topic relates to Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, "The Mother", where the author describes the painful thoughts, heartbreak, and awful feelings that a woman experiences after having an abortion. Brooks lays out a helpful framework for understanding the difficult situation of facing unplanned pregnancy. In "The Mother", a woman recollects her inner conflicts as she laments over the guilt of having had an abortion and the future she never gave her would be child. Brooks's poem provides insight into the research which reveals how abortion affects women morally, psychologically, and religiously.