When it comes to the sanctity of life, Christians often rightly emphasize saving preborn lives from all forms of abortion. This focus has spurred monumental victories for the cause of life in recent years: the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the repeal of harmful federal regulations, and, for the first time ever, federally defunding Planned Parenthood.
While advocates have worked faithfully toward these milestones, a culture of death has quietly and steadily gained ground under the guise of “healthcare”: the promulgation of physician-assisted suicide. In a culture that promotes elective death in the form of abortion, this is no surprise.
Physician-assisted suicide in America
On Dec. 17, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul publicly committed to sign legislation permitting physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients — a bill that is shamefully called “the most permissive assisted suicide bill in the country.” Her signature is expected by midnight tonight and will make New York the 14th U.S. jurisdiction to legalize the practice.
Not including New York, three states in the last nine months have signed right-to-die legislation — a pace unprecedented in U.S. history, with no signs of slowing down. In 2026, legislation will be seriously considered in Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts, while other states are quickly gaining ground.
The problem of physician-assisted suicide
These developments in our country should lead us to ask what physician-assisted suicide is and why it is so problematic.
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is a precise form of medicalized killing aided by doctors and pharmacists, carried out by the patient. Other monikers include “death with dignity” and “right to die” legislation. These names sound comforting but are tragically misinformed. While the term “physician-assisted suicide” is often enveloped in language of “compassion” and “mercy,” there is no getting around it: In PAS, healthcare providers, the very people sworn by oath to bring treatment and care, become directly complicit in patient self-murder.
While the harms of PAS are likely evident to the Christian, even the secular eye can see that assisted suicide fails to heal and dignify. The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics writes, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
