Rhetoric: “The Morality of Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger Essay

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The speech on the morality of the birth control presented by Margaret Sanger in 1921 is interesting and important to be discussed in detail because of the variety of rhetoric devices used by the speaker in order to announce controversial ideas and persuade the audience.

In her speech, Sanger supports the argument that the American women should have the right to learn more about the birth control because of their responsibility for the personal health and happiness in contrast to the social and religious discussions of the issue.

While focusing on the examples of bias provided in the speech, it is necessary to mention that Sanger is rather radical in dividing the society into three groups and in discussing their particular features and differences. Thus, discussing the third category, Sanger not only describes the representatives of the group as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘reckless’, but she also declares that in the first place, these people should not be allowed to have children.

The fallacies in the speech are also observed, and they are associated with Sanger’s discussion of the role of Christianity in forming the people’s moral principles.

To evoke the audience’s emotions, the speaker chooses to discuss the Christian teaching as a failure and to blame the church for women’s moral dependence. From this point, the specific rhetorical devices used to support the ideas are parallelism to convey the message about the church’s role, personification to discuss the role of Nature, and hyperboles to emphasize the quality of the provided arguments.

Sanger’s main argument is that all the women have the right to decide about the birth control because only women can evaluate their life and health without the impact of moral norms or religion. Moreover, both adult men and women should be equal in discussing their family plans.

The speaker addresses arguments and counterarguments while presenting the provocative ideas as the solutions to cope with the audience’s problems and avoid the imposed opinions. Sanger chooses to contrast the previous social approaches and the modern opportunities while accentuating the absence of the results earlier and the modern great potential for happiness and prosperity.

Discussing the effectiveness of the arguments, it is necessary to note that Sanger uses ethos while stating her credibility as one of the researchers who were interested in conducting the survey on the morality of the birth control. In order to support her position, Sanger notes that even the known opponents of the idea participated in the research. While referring to logos, Sanger recalls the survey results and the scientists’ opinions on the problem.

However, Sanger most effectively uses the appeal to the audience’s emotions, while provoking the refusal of traditions and moral norms. Furthermore, Sanger stresses on the rights of children to be desired and on the contradictions between the persons’ rights for dignity and choice instead of being ignored and deprived of chances.

From this point, Sanger’s arguments can be discussed as effective because the speaker appropriately utilizes such rhetoric appeals as ethos, logos, and pathos.

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IvyPanda. (2020) 'Rhetoric: “The Morality of Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger'. 17 March.

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IvyPanda. 2020. "Rhetoric: “The Morality of Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger." March 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/rhetoric-the-morality-of-birth-control-by-margaret-sanger/.

1. IvyPanda. "Rhetoric: “The Morality of Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger." March 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/rhetoric-the-morality-of-birth-control-by-margaret-sanger/.


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IvyPanda. "Rhetoric: “The Morality of Birth Control” by Margaret Sanger." March 17, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/rhetoric-the-morality-of-birth-control-by-margaret-sanger/.

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