How well do you build credibility, trust, and likeability with a wide audience? I think I believe I build my credibility pretty well because I am part of the community that is being affected by the topic I chose. I have experience at Planned Parenthood centers and understand that they do way more than just abortions.

Do you cite and quote your sources appropriately? Do you introduce their credibility before citing evidence and claims from them? I do cite my sources correctly and I think I quote them correctly. I try my best to introduce their credibility, if it was not already obvious. Most of my quotes were from Planned Parenthood which was a very prevalent topic throughout the essay.

Are all of your sources credible? Yes they were credible, most of them were from Planned Parenthood and the others I checked their credibility before deciding to use them.

Do you present how you are connected to the issue/any background you have in relation to it? Yes I did, I mentions that I have used Planned Parenthood centers before, I am part of the community that the defunding is affecting and how other people I know also go to Planned Parenthood.

Have you conducted enough research that your audience feels you are knowledgeable about your subject? I believe I conducted enough research so the audience feels I am knowledgeable, a lot of people did not know what Title X and the gag rule was. Now I feel like an expert on the topic from how much I read about it.

Do you appeal to a wide audience? Do you address and concede to at least one opposing view or reasonable conclusion that differs from your own? I think I appeal to a wide audience. Yes I did mention an opposing view and how it differs from my point of view.

Are you empathetic, understanding, and respectful in your language to the community that the issue most negatively effects? I believe I was, it also could have been seen as a little aggressive.

Is your solution ethical? Yes it is, it is just to try to talk to state legislatures and try to get your voice heard. It is not attacking anyone or violent.

Is your essay appropriately written for an academic audience (MLA format, correct grammar, appropriate vocab)? Is the essay mostly your own conclusions drawn from your experience and research (vs. a summary of what you’ve read or too much quoting from other authors without providing your own informed and reasoned opinion)? I have been doing MLA format since middle school, so if I don’t know how to format an essay in MLA by now that would be pretty sad, but I think my essay is in a good format. However I think I used correct grammar, good vocabulary. The essay is mostly my own conclusions and not just summarization of the research conducted.

The Trump Administration has done a lot of controversial things in the past three years, from how they are dealing with immigration laws and immigrants to abortion laws. Currently, they are wanting to put a gag rule onto Title X. Title X “is a federal grant program created in 1970 to provide comprehensive and confidential family planning services and preventive health services” (‘What Is Title X? An Explainer’). It is the federal program that provides low-cost reproductive care for people, which is very important. Over four million people go to health centers that are funded under Title X. The gag rule “prohibits health care providers serving in Title X funded institutions from referring patients for abortion care” (‘What Is Title X? An Explainer’). This, not only is unethical but also stops all funding to these facilities. Millions of people will not be able to get affordable care that they need, just because the Trump Administration does not support abortion.  If “legislatures cannot enact an outright ban, they can [through laws] compel women who are seeking abortions to look at ultrasounds of the embryo or fetus, or to receive misleading counseling during mandated waiting periods—render the procedure onerous and the women who seek it suspect. They can treat it more like a crime, and hope that, eventually, the Supreme Court will see it that way, too (Talbot).” This is what is happening because the Trump Administration is enforcing the gag rule. No medical provider should be forced to withhold information from their patients. Health centers under Title X do much more than just abortions; Planned Parenthood for example, provides patients with birth control, pap smears, STI testing, cancer screenings, etc. The gag rule takes all of these services away at a low cost. This is going to cause a whole lot of problems. 

Every woman has three choices when she gets pregnant; become a mother, go through with the pregnancy and give it up for adoption, or terminate the pregnancy. With this gag rule, terminating the pregnancy is taken off the table—in a way. Having an abortion safely is taken away. “Enforcement of the rule and subsequent funding cuts will result in 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions and 21,700 maternal deaths between 2017 and 2020, the group says (Shinkman).” These statistics are not okay. No woman should have to go through a pregnancy if she is not ready for that; it is her choice of when she wants to start a family. Without the option of abortion, women will do it in a non-medical way—which will be deadly. The gag rule is deadly. Men should not be making these decisions, especially when the men do not have to be involved and won’t be if they themselves aren’t ready to start a family. It is completely mind-blowing that they want to prevent women from having a choice of what they can and can’t do with their bodies. I understand that people don’t support abortion, which is fine as everyone is entitled to their own opinions. However, taking away all those other services just because you do not support abortions is not right.

The topic of abortion and Title X is very controversial. People’s views on abortion vary, significantly, which complicates the whole topic even more. The Trump Administration does not support abortion and thinks that a woman’s right to get an abortion should not be allowed and that essentially it is murder.  Title X also complicates things. Title X is a federally funded program; this means it is tax-payers’ money. Due to it being the public’s money, I understand why people don’t want their money to be paying for abortions. “We thank President Trump for taking decisive action to disentangle taxpayers from the big abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood (North),” is just one opinion from someone who thinks the gag rule is good due to the fact that tax-payers’ are funding the health centers that perform abortions. If I didn’t support something, I wouldn’t want my hard-earned money to be funding that. I also understand the other view of abortion, don’t have sex if you can’t deal with the consequences of sex and in a way, it could be considered murder. However, wanting to terminate a pregnancy could be for a variety of reasons, other than just not being responsible. I could understand a lot of reasons for people wanting to put the gag rule onto Title X to a certain point, but I can’t accept doing this kind of thing with the intention of just targeting abortions. “The gag rule also blocks them from getting preventative care at Planned Parenthood health centers (Planned Parenthood).” I interviewed a close friend because she does not support abortions and thinks they are wrong to get her opinion on this because she has opposing views— even she thinks the gag rule is not the way to go about the abortion issue. “Even though I don’t support abortion, girls should have that right to the care they need (Leslie, Katlynne, and Gaby Sweger).” By targeting Title X because of abortions, it is essentially getting rid of cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing, which is really important for not just women but men too. 

We have established that the Title X gag rule is wrong and unethical, so what can we do to stop it? “Speak up, speak out. Advocate for yourself, for your friends and family, for your patients. Write a letter to the editor of your paper. Call, email, or tweet your senators and representative (‘What Is Title X? An Explainer’).” This is an issue that is affecting Tucson, Arizona, and the entire country right now. Millions of people are having their right to reproductive care away. We need to stop this now. Protest, communicate with your state legislatures, make your voice be heard. They can’t ignore people if we make enough noise to stop this. It might take longer, but at least it is something. Unfortunately, it is the only way we can help. 

Field Research

I interviewed two people while working on this project for field research. I conducted these interviews over text message because I was out of town and with the time zone difference it was easier to do it through text. One was my close friend who does not support abortion, Gaby Sweger. She is nineteen and I wanted to see what her point of view was on the topic with her beliefs on the topic. She is also a part of the affected community for this issue. She still thought it was wrong to stop these reproductive care services just to stop abortion. I used a quote from the interview above in my essay. The second person I interviewed was my gynecologist, so I could get the point of view of a medical professional. I wanted to know if these health centers affected her work as a gynecologist and how she felt about the gag rule. She thinks it is unethical to have to limit what a medical professional can tell their patients. Although it won’t affect her as much because she is not under Title X, she still does not support it. 

Interview with Dr. Lori

Interview with Gaby

(I emailed these to you just in case the links did not work)

Works Cited

Leslie, Katlynne, and Gaby Sweger. “Interview for Opposing View.” 24 Nov. 2019.

Leslie, Katlynne, and Lori Mullan. “Interview: Gynecologist Point of View.” 24 Nov. 2019.

Masselink, Leah E., et al. “Title X–Funded Health Center Staff Members’ Perspectives on 

Barriers to Insurance Use For Confidential Family Planning Services.” Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, vol. 50, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 51–57. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1363/psrh.12054.

Milligan, Susan. “Taking a Stand Over Title X.” U.S. News – The Report, Aug. 2018, pp. 

C1–C4. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=131074940&site=ehost-live.

North, Anna. “The Legal Battle over the Trump Administration’s ‘Domestic Gag Rule,” 

Explained.” Vox, Vox, 5 July 2019, http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/22/18236227/abortion-planned-parenthood-gag-rule-title-x

Parenthood, Planned. “Tracking Trump – The Title X Gag Rule.” Planned Parenthood Action Fund, http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/tracking-trump/policy/title-x-gag-rule.

Talbot, Margaret. “How the Trump Administration Is Stigmatizing Abortion.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2019, http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-the-trump-administration-is-stigmatizing-abortion.

Shinkman, Paul. “Trump Ramps Up Reagan Rule – Prompting Unwanted Pregnancies, Unsafe Abortions, Death.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-06-05/report-trumps-foreign-abortion-gag-rule-harms-developing-countries-other-foreign-aid.“What Is Title X? An Explainer.” Physicians for Reproductive Health, prh.org/what-is-title-x-an-explainer/.

While the Trump Administration has done a lot of controversial things in the past three years, like how they are dealing with immigration laws and immigrants to abortion laws. However, they are wanting to put a gag rule onto Title X. “The Title X Family Planning Program is a federal grant program created in 1970 to provide comprehensive and confidential family planning services and preventive health services (‘What Is Title X? An Explainer’).” It is the federal program that provides low-cost reproductive care for people, which is very important. Over four million people go to health centers that are funded under Title X. The gag rule prohibits health care providers serving in Title X funded institutions from referring patients for abortion care. This, not only is unethical, essentially stops all funding to these facilities. Millions of people will not be able to get affordable care that they need, just because the Trump Administration does not support abortion. No medical provider should be forced to withhold information from their patients. Health centers under Title X do much more than just abortions, Planned Parenthood for example, provide patients with birth control, pap smears, STI testing, cancer screenings, etc. the gag rule takes all of these services away at a low cost. This is going to cause a whole lot of problems. 

Every woman has three choices when she gets pregnant; become a mother, go through with the pregnancy and give it up for adoption, or terminate the pregnancy. With this gag rule, terminating the pregnancy is taken off the table—in a way. Having an abortion safely is taken away. “Enforcement of the rule and subsequent funding cuts will result in 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions and 21,700 maternal deaths between 2017 and 2020, the group says (Shinkman).” These statistics are not okay. No woman should have to go through a pregnancy if she is not ready for that, it is her choice of when she wants to start a family. Men should not be making these decisions, especially when the men do not have to be involved and won’t be if they themselves aren’t ready to start a family. It is completely mind-blowing that they want to prevent women from having a choice of what they can and can’t do with their bodies. I understand that people don’t support abortion, which is fine, but taking away all those other services is not right.

The topic of abortion and Title X is very controversial. People’s views on abortion vary, significantly, which is what complicated the whole topic even more. The Trump Administration does not support abortion and thinks that a woman’s right to get an abortion should not be allowed and that essentially is murder. Title X also complicates things. Title X is a federally funded program, this means it is tax-payers money. Due to it being the public’s money, I understand why people don’t want their money to be paying for abortions. If I didn’t support something, I wouldn’t want my hard-earned money to be funding that. I also understand the other view of abortion, don’t have sex if you can’t deal with the consequences of sex and in a way, it could be considered murder. However, wanting to terminate a pregnancy could be for a variety of reasons, other than just not being responsible. I could understand a lot of reasons for people wanting to put the gag rule onto Title X to a certain point, but I can’t accept doing this kind of thing with the intention of just targeting abortions. “The gag rule also blocks them from getting preventative care at Planned Parenthood health centers (Planned Parenthood).” Title X provides affordable reproductive care, by putting the gag rule on it is stopping the funding for services underneath Title X. By targeting Title X because of abortions, it is essentially getting rid of cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing, which is really important for not just women but men too. 

The topic of abortion and Title X is very controversial. People’s views on abortion vary, significantly, which is what complicated the whole topic even more. The Trump Administration does not support abortion and think that a woman’s right to get an abortion should not be allowed and that essentially is murder. Title X also complicates thing. Title X is a federally funded program, this means it is tax-payers money. Due to it being the public’s money, I understand why people don’t want their money to be paying for abortions. If I didn’t support something, I wouldn’t want my hard earned money to be funding that. I also understand the other view of abortion, don’t have sex if you can’t deal with the consequences of sex and in a way it could be considered murder . However, wanting to terminate a pregnancy could be for a variety of reasons, other than just not being responsible. I could understand a lot of reasons for people wanting to put the gag rule onto Title X to a certain point, but I can’t accept doing this kind of thing with the intentions of just targeting abortions. “The gag rule also blocks them from getting preventative care at Planned Parenthood health centers (Planned Parenthood).” Title X provides affordable reproductive care, by putting the gag rule on it is stopping the funding for services underneath Title X. By targeting Title X because of abortions, it is essentially getting rid of cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing, which is really important for not just women but men too.

Thesis: Before any controversial issue can be discussed, there is usually a certain amount of misinformation to deal with. This is clearly the case with the Black Student Union.

1. Money for the renovations and the misconception that it was going to pay the staff of the BSU.
2. The thought that the Black Student Union is imposing a threat to a new kind of segregation.
3. The purpose of the Black Student Union.
4. Conclusion: Why is a mental handicap/racism not treated the same as a physical handicap?

What is Title X? An Explainer

This source informs the reader on what Title X is, what the Gag Rule is and how the Gag Rule will affect Title X. It also talks about who benefits from Title X, which essentially is all of us. We all benefit from Title X and putting the Gag Rule into affect will negatively impact close to 4 million people. It also talks about what we can do to protect Title X.

Tracking Trump-The Title X Gag Rule

This source is directly from Planned Parenthood, which is probably the biggest healthcare center affected by all of this. They talk about how, again, 4 million people with low incomes won’t be able to get full and accurate information from their clinicians if the Gag Rule is put into effect. They also mention 13 other organizations/publications that talk about this and summarizes the information from those sources (links are available on the website).

Taking a Stand Over Title X

This source brings in the politics of this discussion. Washington, New York, Hawaii, and Oregon governors are trying to fight this and want the best care to be provided for their citizens. A OB-GYN doctor also states what the negative outcomes of the Gag Rule could be, also stating it isn’t right that there’s a potential doctors have to withhold information from their clients.

Report Slam Trump’s Abortion “Gag Rule”

This source brings up the arrogance of the Trump Administration for trying to impose this Gag Rule. Stating, “Enforcement of the rule and subsequent funding cuts with result in 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions, and 21,700 maternal deaths (Shinkman).” It also mentions that these health centers do more than abortion and the Gag Rule is taking away the funding to these services, STD testing, affordable birth control, cancer screenings, etc. to not just women but also men.

Emotional/Scare Tactic: If Title X gets the Gag Rule put onto it, then a lot of people could die. By not allowing Title X funded centers to provide helpful, and safe, abortion options to the population. People are going to go out and get the procedure done by non-qualified people or try to terminate the pregnancy themselves, which will result in a high number of fatalities.

Ethical/Ad Hominem: The Trump Administration has no right to decide what a woman can and cannot do with her body. Trump has a horrible history of treating women, “Grab her by the pussy”. Why should this horrible man, be allowed to try to effect the sexual health of women? They only want to put the Gag Rule on Title X because they think these health centers only do abortions, but they do so much more. They are just too arrogant to educate themselves.

Logical/Begging the Question: Why do men think they can decide what a woman does with her own body? It takes two to make a baby, so why do men get to decide what a woman does in the instance of an unplanned pregnancy?

The topic I’m choosing to write on for essay 3 is the very complex issues with Title X.

Writing essay 2 was very different from essay 1 because it was personal. It made me relive things I try not to think about on a daily basis. But it made me realize how far I have come since the events in my essay and how much things have changed. I know how to add dialogue into an essay, which is something I have never had to do. I really like the narrative style of writing because there is more freedom for topics and content.