ortion in her case because their basic argument is that the fetus's right to life takes precedence over the mother's right to control her body. In other words, any person's fundamental right to exist outweighs the right not to be uncomfortable. Thus, the fetus's right just to continue being a person outweighs the mother's right not to be uncomfortable with or inconvenienced by a pregnancy. For the abortion opponents, how a woman becomes pregnant is not relevant, or seemingly even related, to the fetus's right to life
The question then arises between 'competing' rights to life. Thomson discusses the case where continuing a pregnancy threatens the mother's life. Whose right to life takes precedence in such a case? Thomson notes that, for the anti-abortionists, the innocent fetus cannot be directly killed because to do so would be murder. If not acting to kill the fetus results in the death of the mother, then that is something less than murder in the mother's case and is permissib
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