Abstinence Rhetorical Analysis
Taylor Gilchrist
Ms. Laseter
English 102
8 June 2014
Abstinence vs. Contraception Should early sex education programs only teach about abstinence or should they include the facts about contraception too? There is no specific way that it has to be taught but there is a debate on which ways have the best outcome. Abstinence is refraining from having sex and the only way to not get infected with a sexually transmitted disease. On the other hand, contraception is also known as birth control or other devices that help prevent pregnancy but are not one hundred percent effective. In the article “A Debate About Teaching Abstinence,” Deborah Kotz successfully appeals to credibility, logic, and emotion in order to prove a point that early sex …show more content…
Marilyn Keefe, director of reproductive health and rights at the nonprofit National Partnership for Women and Families, stated that “Abstinence-only programs are ideology driven and not a good use of our public-health dollars.” Another example of a reliable source Kotz uses in her article is that she gets some answers from public-health experts that blame a three percent increase in teen birthrates after a decrease for fourteen years on sex education programs that taught only abstinence. Kotz used statistics from the American Journal of public health which vouched for a reliable source that was accurate. The most dependable person Kotz used in her article was Sarah Brown. Brown is the chief executive officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. She helps with the studies of sex education and studies the outcomes of each one. I believe Kotz did a great job of using credibility to help convince her audience about most effective teachings of early sex …show more content…
Emotions from people who believe in abstinence are revealed in this article as they fight against teaching about contraception. For example, Kotz uses the words “crying foul” as describing the abstinence advocates. Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, insist that “Any kind of assertion of blame is a disingenuous attempt to turn these statistics into a political agenda” (“A Debate About Teaching Abstinence”). Another emotional word that Kotz used in her article that caught my attention was the word fear as she was describing the feelings of experts on an anti-birth control message. There are many emotions in this article because of the different opinions and the fight between abstinence and
Ms. Laseter
English 102
8 June 2014
Abstinence vs. Contraception Should early sex education programs only teach about abstinence or should they include the facts about contraception too? There is no specific way that it has to be taught but there is a debate on which ways have the best outcome. Abstinence is refraining from having sex and the only way to not get infected with a sexually transmitted disease. On the other hand, contraception is also known as birth control or other devices that help prevent pregnancy but are not one hundred percent effective. In the article “A Debate About Teaching Abstinence,” Deborah Kotz successfully appeals to credibility, logic, and emotion in order to prove a point that early sex …show more content…
Marilyn Keefe, director of reproductive health and rights at the nonprofit National Partnership for Women and Families, stated that “Abstinence-only programs are ideology driven and not a good use of our public-health dollars.” Another example of a reliable source Kotz uses in her article is that she gets some answers from public-health experts that blame a three percent increase in teen birthrates after a decrease for fourteen years on sex education programs that taught only abstinence. Kotz used statistics from the American Journal of public health which vouched for a reliable source that was accurate. The most dependable person Kotz used in her article was Sarah Brown. Brown is the chief executive officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. She helps with the studies of sex education and studies the outcomes of each one. I believe Kotz did a great job of using credibility to help convince her audience about most effective teachings of early sex …show more content…
Emotions from people who believe in abstinence are revealed in this article as they fight against teaching about contraception. For example, Kotz uses the words “crying foul” as describing the abstinence advocates. Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, insist that “Any kind of assertion of blame is a disingenuous attempt to turn these statistics into a political agenda” (“A Debate About Teaching Abstinence”). Another emotional word that Kotz used in her article that caught my attention was the word fear as she was describing the feelings of experts on an anti-birth control message. There are many emotions in this article because of the different opinions and the fight between abstinence and