Twomey 1

Morgan Twomey

Fielding

WRTC 103

22 February 2017

Life at Conception

In 2011, 1.06 million innocent lives were taken from this world because

of abortions in the US alone; thats over 4,000 per day. Lives; since thats

merely what they are. Life begins at conception. At least, this is how it is

elucidated an article from Gale Opposing Viewpoints, Abortion Can Never Be

Morally Justified and by many other medical professionals. According to Dr.

LeJeune of NAAPC, after fertilization has taken place a new human being

has come into beingis no longer a matter of taste or opinionit is plain

experimental evidenceEach individual has a very neat beginning, at

conception. This rhetorical analysis examines the article, Abortion Can

Never Be Morally Justified, and the Public Service Announcement, Life at

Conception by Morgan Twomey, by using rhetorical appeals to portray the

idea that life begins at conception and explaining that abortion is immoral

and corrupt even in cases of incest and rape, fetal abnormalities, and when

the mothers health is at risk.

The article, Abortion Can Never Be Morally Justified, states that there

are no possible cases that justify abortion, or killing an unborn child in the

womb; whether it be fetal abnormalities, rape, incest or the mothers life is

at risk. Though, they state that these are difficult circumstances, they argue
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that there is no need to end the life and that there are other options. It states

that a total ban on abortions would be the best option and they claim that

life starts at the moment of conception, therefore abortion is the same thing

as murder. It is described in a way that the parents of the child have caused

the life of the child and question why the child should be punished for

someone elses mistake.

The article mainly includes pathos in order to emotionally engage the

audience and make them feel sorry for the innocent lives taken from the

world each day. It states both mother and child should be treated as

patients. A doctor should try to protect both (xv). Everyone hopes that all

medical professionals would try to protect every patient and hope that if they

were in the hands, or if their children were in the hands of the doctors, that

the best possible care would be given. It later describes that people want to

find try to erase the event by abortion but it would only become tougher

because of the emotional repercussions that come along with it. Abortion

did not solve their problem; it merely created additional ones (v). In a study

performed by the Elliot Institute, women were asked questions regarding

personal feelings after they had had at least one abortion. 92 percent of

women experienced feelings of guilt, 76 percent of the women reported

feelings of self-hatred, and only three percent said that they felt truly

peaceful afterwards.

The article also displays logos to exemplify that its message is a simple

concept to grasp. It claims that fetal abnormalities are no reason to have an

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abortion. The first problem here is that medical opinions can be just that

opinions (viii). It is logic because medical opinions, simply are opinions.

Reality is, doctors can be wrong. Imagine the emptiness and guilt of a parent

who sees their dead child whom they thought had physical or mental

abnormalities to see that their child was perfectly healthy and normal. Life

is life regardless of its issues. The article also says that incest and rape are

both illegal acts that many people find themselves drawn have an abortion

after they find themselves pregnant because of them, however this isnt

justified either. Rape and incest are similar in the sense that both are

criminal acts (iv). In illegal actions, it is expected that the perpetrator would

be punished, not the victim, nor the helpless child.

Lastly, the article utilizes ethos to enhance the credibility to convince

the audience that abortion is completely unjust. It uses a quote from Dr.

Bernard Nathanson because people are more likely to believe a doctor

because of their higher education. "There are no conceivable clinical

situations today where abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother. In

fact, if her health is threatened and an abortion is performed, the abortion

increases risks the mother will incur regarding her health." -Dr. Bernard

Nathanson, American Bioethics Advisory Commission (xvii). Another way the

article enhanced its credibility was by using nonprofits. American Life

League is the country's largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education

organization. The nonprofit group is committed to protecting the lives of all

human beings from the moment of conception to their natural death (i).
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Here it is explained that life does indeed begin at conception and the belief

behind that is backed up by many people because it is the largest grassroots

Catholic pro-life education organization.

The PSA, Life at Conception, encourages women who may be pregnant

or pregnant in the future to understand that life starts at conception and

abortion after that it corrupt. It is taken up predominantly by two black and

white images. First, a sperm touching an egg displays conception. Secondly,

an image of an aborted child, not more than 3 inches long, is resting in a

mans hand. The images, although black and white, draw the attention of the

viewer. Above the first image the writing, this IS life, is in large red letters.

To show that life starts at the moment the sperm connects with the egg.

Above the second image the writing, this WAS a life, is placed in large red

letters to show that a life has been taken. These who phrases are the only

color on the entire PSA to emphasize the start and end of life that came only

weeks apart. The words IS and WAS were the only letters capitals in

these two phrases to reinforce life and death. Under the picture there are

three lines saying, LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION, Abortion always claims a

human person's life, and 1.06 million abortions were performed in 2011 in

the U.S. alone. Below the three lines there are three logos of nonprofits,

American Life League, Americans United for Life, and Live Action.

The Public Service announcement also includes pathos to tug on the

emotions of its viewers. The PSA includes the quote, Abortion always takes a

human life. This appeals to the emotions of the viewers because it is

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always gloomy and morbid when think of someone, especially someone so

young dying. Its always a said though to think of someone dying especially a

child. It is almost a reinforcer saying not to get pregnant unless they want to

have a child, or they would be faced with having to kill an innocent child like

this one. The PSA also displays a lack of color except for two lines and

capitalizes particular words to emphasize her idea. The entire PSA is black

and white except for the lines, this IS a life and this WAS a life. The

author purposely made the words red in order to make them stand out

because they show the begging and end of life; what the PSA is about. She

also capitalizes the IS and WAS to emphasize her point that life starts at

conception and abortion is killing and takes away that life. One major pathos

appeal included by the creator was the image of the dead baby to gain

audiences sympathy. People tend to most often recognize death as a morbid

and mournful occasion especially of someone so young.

The PSA also includes the incorporation of ethos to enhance the

credibility of the creator. It includes three nonprofit organizations, American

Life League, Americans United for Life, and Live Action. American Life League

is mentioned in the article as well. The nonprofits improve the credibility by

showing that the PSAs main purpose isnt to make a profit it is simply to

inform, which also takes away some of the possibility for bias.

Lastly, the PSA contains Logos to display logic. It includes logos in the

sense that there is a picture of a dead baby and it is simply known what was

once alive, is now dead. It says, WAS a life, merely things that were alive
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are now dead. It also includes the statistic, 1.06 million abortions were

performed in 2011, at the bottom. Once the viewer feels sorry for the dead

child on the poster and then sees that there is not just one of these children

killed but over one million a year, it really can unsettle their stomachs.

Both the PSA and the article are similar in their methods of persuasion

and many factors overlap. However, the article has more of the ability to

write precise details and more thorough descriptions, whereas the PSA is

able to more quickly grasp the viewers attention because of the images.

They both have the same meaning and goal and both get the idea across

their audience.
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This PSA, Life at Conception by Morgan Twomey, emphasizes the idea

that life starts at Conception and the killing of that life a second after
that is murder.
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Works Cited
"Abortion Can Never Be Morally Justified." Abortion, edited by Tamara Thompson,
Greenhaven Press,
2015. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, 21 Feb. 2017.
Originally published as "Exceptions," all.org, 2014.
Alcorn, Randy. "Why Life Begins at Conception | NAAPC." Why Life Begins at
Conception | NAAPC.
NAAPC, Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
"ALL: Building a Culture of Life." American Life League. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
David, Reardon C., Ph.D. "PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS REPORTED AFTER ABORTION:
A Detailed Survey
of Post-Abortion Reactions." PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS REPORTED AFTER
ABORTION: A Detailed Survey of Post-Abortion Reactions. The Post Abortion
Review, Fall 1994. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
"Home." Live Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
Twomey, Morgan (2017.) Life at Conception. Unpublished PSA, James Madison
University.
"New Report: Abortions in US Drop to Lowest Level since 1974." Fox News. FOX
News Network, 18 Jan. 2017. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
"#UNSAFEreport." Americans United for Life. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.