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Rhetorical Abortion Argument

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Abortion is a highly controversial issue in the United States today. There are those who argue that life beings at conception and that terminating a pregnancy is equivalent to murder. These pro-life supporters have relatively immovable opinions on abortion. In the past, they have done all they could to prevent abortions, using tactics ranging from protesting and lobbying to methods as deadly as bombing abortion clinics. On the other hand, there are pro-choice supporters as well who argue that women have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies and that a fetus is not a living person, but a part of the mother herself. They propose that though abortions should always be limited, psychological, maturity, and economic issues are all acceptable reasons for women to be able to choose whether or not they want to carry a child for nine months. In April 2009, 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave a speech at Evansville, Indiana, where she argues against abortion. She fights for her beliefs, claiming that “life is ordained, life is precious” and no selfish decisions should stand in the way of a life from living. Her ethos and utilization of pathos are both tactical techniques used to argue against the practice of abortion to try and convince her audience to fight against it as well. Palin’s entire argument against abortion would not matter unless she had any credibility that would allow the audience to deem her respectable and her opinion worth listening too. First and foremost, Sarah Palin is a political figure known around the world. She made a huge impact during the 2008 United States Presidential election and is regarded by millions as the next generation of the Republican Party. Prior to her historic run, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the fourth largest city of that state, and after that she was governor of Alaska for two years. These accomplishments alone are worthy of proving her credibility, yet there is way more to Sarah Palin than Alaska. She is the new image of the Republican Party. Normally, being a mayor of an Alaskan town or governor of two years does not give a person the respect and admiration that people have of Palin. She knows how to captivate an audience and is a true conservative. Millions of people around the globe admire this woman and take what she says to heart. Everyone wants to know what her next move is and suspect her of planning a run for the White House in 2012. This is the true reason for her integrity. She is the new hope for the Republican Party and the public takes what she says to heart. It is these qualities that prove to millions of people the credibility and trustworthiness of Sarah Palin, allowing them to listen intently to her words. Perhaps Palin’s most powerful technique in convincing the audience against abortion is through pathos. She is able to get to the readers emotionally through her own story of how she opted against abortion when she realized that her son, Trig, was going to be born with Down’s syndrome. She said that at first she knew that it was going to be a difficult journey and that her life was going to drastically change after her fifth child. Her background to the story helps set the mood that thousands of other mothers in this country are going through. They are scared and unsure of what is going to happen; they do not want their life to change and a child, especially one that has a mental disorder, would add obscene amounts of responsibility that they do not want to have. However, Palin’s tune changes after she decided to give birth to Trig because she knew that she could not simply kill a life because of her own selfish worries. To her, the life of a child of God was more important that the bodily problems that she was enduring. And to this day, from “the moment [Trig] was born, [Palin] knew that… [her] prayers had been answered.” She holds absolutely no regrets on giving birth to her baby boy. To her "Trig is a miracle. He is the best thing that ever happened to [her] and [Sarah Palin wants] other women to have that opportunity" to love. In her speech, she first makes herself seem nervous about giving birth to a child with mental illnesses, making the audience empathetic to her. Yet after she realized how much she loved her child, she knew she had made the right decision. Instead of a curse as many mothers going through this same situation often think, the children they have are all blessings to be worshiped. Palin plays with the emotions of the audience, making them feel sad at first and then relieved and happy that someone like them was able to make it through this common dilemma and come out as happy as her. She was able to go through a struggle in her decision, choosing to allow her child to live, and then feel completely compelled to share her story of love and happiness with the rest of the world. It makes the audience and those who are contemplating abortion feel as though they too can start to embrace their child instead of aborting it because of troubled times. Though the thought of a child may seem bad to them now, just like Sarah Palin, women may end up knowing that their child is the greatest thing that has ever happened to them. Thus, with her words, thousands of lives of unborn babies may be saved because people are no longer choosing to abort and kill their children, but to give them the chance to live and love life.
The debate of abortion is fought by both sides vehemently. Those who are pro-life think that they are right, while pro-choice supporters think the same. There is no way in particular to prove one side is correct over the other. As of now, the issue of abortion, even with Row v. Wade legalizing abortion in all states, is still not over. There are going to be people like Sarah Palin who are going to fight the struggle to give all children of God the right to life. She believes that the possibility of life begins at conception, and therefore aborting a fetus just means killing a life. If she can accomplish her goal and spread her message throughout the country, then countless of untold children can be saved from being killed by abortion, so that they may experience the joys of life that we all take for granted.

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