The mission of Issues in Perspective is to provide thoughtful, historical and biblically-centered perspectives on current ethical and cultural issues.

To be consistently an advocate for the value and worth of human life is a significant challenge in 2025.  Those who name the name of Jesus Christ must test their value system and strive for consistency and authenticity as advocates for life.  Indeed, columnist and evangelical Christian, David French, argues that “A decent society should do all it reasonably can to reduce human suffering. It should not, however, do so by extinguishing the lives of those who suffer or the lives of those who we believe might suffer in the future.”

Example #1:  French touches on Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) laws, which have led to the emergence of a euthanasia industry.  He quotes Elaina Plott Calabro, who writes for The Atlantic:  “MAID now accounts for about one in 20 deaths in Canada — more than Alzheimer’s and diabetes combined — surpassing countries where assisted dying has been legal for far longer.” Between 2016 and 2023 (the last year for which we have data), roughly 60,300 Canadians died by MAID. Tragically, according to Calabro, “Nearly half of all Canadians who have died by MAID viewed themselves as a burden on family and friends.”  Every one of those lives was precious.  Consider these tragic examples:

• There’s the young man who was diagnosed with what was probably a curable cancer who chose to end his life because he didn’t want to seek treatment.
• There’s the older woman who fractured her hip and simply chose to die, with Canadian officials approving euthanasia on the basis of frailty.
• And while there are stories of people designing what they see as ideal deaths—choosing to end their lives at the late stages of terminal cancer, surrounded by friends and family, there are much darker stories as well. The most poignant, at least for me, was of a person who gave final consent all alone, lying on a mattress on the floor of an apartment.

Example #2: French also refers to Ross Douthat’s interview with Noor Siddiqui, the founder of Orchid, a company that provides genetic testing for I.V.F. embryos and claims it can determine which specific embryos are at greater risk for a range of debilitating or potentially fatal health conditions.  “Well before Orchid, prenatal testing was already leading to the large-scale termination of Down syndrome babies, to the point where—in some countries—between 90 and 100 percent of unborn babies that test positive for Down syndrome are aborted . . . Orchid doesn’t encourage destroying embryos, but the information it provides facilitates the picking and choosing of human lives through projections of their health. We are not quite at the level of designer babies as envisioned by science fiction, but we are rapidly approaching the point at which technology is giving parents an incentive to destroy even potentially healthy embryos, based entirely on mathematical probabilities.”

Powerfully, French pleads that we “think carefully about the culture we’re creating, from the beginning to the end of life.  What happens when we make a transition from understanding that suffering is an inevitable part of the human condition, one that rallies people to love and care for the people they love (or even to love and care for people they don’t know), to it being somebody’s fault—perhaps it’s the parents who wrongly brought you into this world or your own fault for hanging on too long?”

• “It is understandable and deeply human to want to bring all aspects of our health as much into our control as possible. Terminally ill patients often face horrifying levels of pain. We should try to treat that pain as best we can. Vulnerability is terrifying, but it is also inescapable. In our quest for health and fitness, we are fighting a delaying action. There is no earthly victory over decay and death.”
• “Yet at each stage of life, we can fool ourselves into believing we possess more control than we really do. If we test to control the beginning of life and die by suicide to control the end of life, the negative side of movements like what has come to be known as MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) is to teach you that your health is under your control throughout your life.”
• “Our commitment to individual liberty can also create the illusion of individual autonomy, a sense that we are the captains of our own fates. Taken together, workism and individual autonomy tell us that we are defined by our status and that our status is largely within our control.  Yet our value is defined by our humanity, not our productivity, and when we live in close community, vulnerability and suffering pull us together. It can trigger a feeling of love and care so powerful and painful that it changes us forever. It softens us. It humbles us. It awakens awareness of the needs of other people.”

Example #3:  When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) was created in 1946, the average life expectancy in the United States was around 66 years. Today it is more than 78 years. While medical advances have helped, it is public health that has played the biggest role in improving both the length and the quality of life in our nation. The C.D.C. has led efforts to eradicate smallpox, increase access to lifesaving vaccinations and significantly reduce smoking rates.  It is an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Richard Besser, Mandy K. Cohen, William Foege, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, William Roper, David Satcher, Anne Schuchat and Rochelle P. Walensky previously led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations.  They make these observations:

• The HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more. Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines. He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views. He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements.”
• “We are worried about the wide-ranging impact that all these decisions will have on America’s health security. Residents of rural communities and people with disabilities will have even more limited access to health care. Families with low incomes who rely most heavily on community health clinics and support from state and local health departments will have fewer resources available to them. Children risk losing access to lifesaving vaccines because of the cost.”
• Kimberley A. Strassel of the Wall Street Journal argues that “HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has married ineptitude to pet obsessions, producing a goat rodeo for the ages . . . RFK alone among Mr. Trump’s cabinet members is pursuing his own agenda, not the president’s vision . . . Performance? Nothing is getting done, in part because Mr. Kennedy can’t put together or keep a team. Most GOP cabinet officials struggle with the career staff they inherit. Mr. Kennedy can’t manage his own political hires . . . If Mr. Kennedy can’t find anyone to work with, it’s because he’s one of the only Trump cabinet officials who divide the base. The Make America Healthy Movement has gained some steam, mostly because of the Kennedy perch. But if there is a minority of HHS “customers” that gets jazzed by a raw-milk debate, there are many more (including Republicans) who find Mr. Kennedy a quack or would appreciate if he devoted even a few minutes to improving their Medicare experience. And literally no one feels more confidence right now in the CDC or FDA—since no one knows who is in charge or how they are going to reverse themselves next. You can count Mr. Kennedy’s genuine GOP supporters in the Senate on one hand—even if their colleagues are too chicken to say anything publicly.”

The MAID law in Canada makes a sham of the state fostering the infinite value and worth of all human life.  It is one of the most disgusting and despicable laws in recent history.  What HHS Secretary Kennedy is doing to the CDC is equally despicable.  His views on most health issues are extreme and  manifest those of a medical quack!  Vaccines protect children.  The CDC led President Trump’s Warp Speed COVID vaccination program, which saved countless lives.  Kimberley Strassel is right—he is leading a “goat rodeo.”  In doing so, he is undermining much of President Trump’s vison of fostering respect for the value and dignity of human life.

See David French “What It Really Means to Choose Life” in the New York Times (24 August 2025); Richard Besser, Mandy K. Cohen, William Foege, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, William Roper, David Satcher, Anne Schuchat and Rochelle P. Walensky, “Kennedy is Endangering Every American’s Health” in the New York Times (3 September 2025); and Kimberley A. Strassel, “RFK Jr.’s Goat Rodeo” in the Wall Street Journal (3 September 2025).