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Blackmun agreed that if Texas could show that the fetus was a person, Roe's case would collapse. In that event "the fetus's right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment." Thus he seemed to concede that the personhood of the fetus was a pivotal issue.

But is this true from a moral or a legal perspective? Consider Thomson's argument again. She assumed that the fetus was a person and argued that moral intuitions and legal precedent support a woman's freedom to end her pregnancy. If the law seldom requires major sacrifices for the sake of others, why should it require them from a pregnant woman? Is it because we think of the sacrifices of pregnancy as 'normal' or 'voluntary'? How would you defend or reply to Blackmun or Thomson?

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