Think of the children

"Think of the children" (also "What about the children?") is a cliché that evolved into a rhetorical tactic. Literally it refers to children's rights (as in discussions of child labor). In debate, however, as a plea for pity, used as an appeal to emotion, it is a logical fallacy.
Art, Argument, and Advocacy (2002) argued that the appeal substitutes emotion for reason in debate.