The Violinist Thought Experiment

You have no moral obligation to stay hooked up to a famous violinist for nine months,

even if it saves his life. Imagine waking up kidnapped and surgically attached to a musician

who needs your kidneys to survive. If you unplug, he dies. The hospital says

you have to stay. But do you? This famous philosophical argument says no. It would be a great

kindness to stay, but you are not morally required to. It’s your body.

This thought experiment is used to reframe the abortion debate. It grants, for the sake of

argument, that a fetus is a person. But it questions whether a right

to life includes the right to use another person's body against their will.