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The Morality of Birth Control

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The Morality of Birth Control
"The Morality of Birth Control" by Margaret Sanger, (1921)

Margaret Sanger uses several method's within her speech, "The Morality of Birth Control", to tell her strong views on the topic. She uses a strong sense of bias, fallacies, and colorful rhetoric devices in her speech to not only get the attention of the audiences, but to relay a sense of urgency for the actions that need to be taken.

One bias that Sanger uses is toward the idea of motherhood without birth control being condition of ignorance and chance. This may be the case for a small number of women, but it is not accurate to categorize all women who do not use or believe in birth control in this manner.

Margaret Sanger uses vivid examples of fallacies and rhetorical devices in her speech. She uses the words "religious scruples" to deliver the basic need for power and morality. When Sanger refers to the opposition to birth control she refers to them as "this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent entirely upon the normal and fit members of society for their support." Her vivid imagery evokes emotion, and the need for aggressive action.

In one way that the speaker addressers arguments and counterarguments is when she talks about the point of the two sexes "mixing together." Sanger talksabout the point that opponents to birth control are the same people that were opposed to women working outside the home and mixing with the opposite sex. Margaret Sanger does an excellent job of pointing out that these same people have no objection to women meeting with members of the opposite sex to attend church. What Sanger accomplishes with this counterargument is that she shows how that there is a double standard involved in allowing women freedom and that if women are able to successfully handle other important decisions, they most certainly are able to handle the decision of birth control without becoming immoral.

The speaker's arguments are effective because of

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