There is an old joke: What do you call the medical student who finished last in his class? Answer: “Doctor.” The increasing legalization of assisted suicide has accorded that joke a disturbing pertinence. A doctor who prescribes poison need not be an excellent medical practitioner. He or she need not specialize in treating patients who present with particular life-threatening conditions, and indeed, can prescribe even if never treating the patient’s underlying condition at all. For example, Jack Kevorkian was a pathologist who never treated a living patient after medical school. But if assiste
Did the women’s movement get hijacked? Former Cosmopolitan writer and Subverted author Sue Ellen Browder says yes, and she says she helped do it. In this eye-opening conversation, Sue shares what she witnessed inside Cosmopolitan during the height of the sexual revolution, how media narratives helped reshape American views on sex, marriage, motherhood, and abortion, and why she believes the women’s movement became fused with abortion politics. We discuss the influence of figures such as Betty Friedan, Larry Lader, Simone de Beauvoir, and Kate Millett, the origins of modern feminism, the role o
In a newly released paper in the prestigious journal Bioethics, three prominent bioethicists argue that when someone decides to commit suicide via self-starvation and dehydration — known in euthanasia movement parlance as “voluntary stop eating and drinking” (VSED) — doctors should be allowed to “terminally sedate” the person trying to die when necessary to prevent intractable suffering. Patients who commit VSED are often not terminally ill. In fact, euthanasia organizations promote self-starvation to the elderly who are not dying and as a means of becoming eligible for assisted suicide where
What happens when science gains the power not only to heal human life, but to redesign it? Scientists are now creating lab-made embryos from stem cells, experimenting with three-parent embryos, pursuing gene editing technologies like CRISPR, and exploring ways to grow human life outside the womb. What once sounded like science fiction is rapidly becoming reality. In this episode of Bioethics Babe, internationally recognized stem cell researcher and bioethics expert Dr. David Prentice of the Science Alliance for Life and Technology (SALT) exposes the ethical dangers behind lab-made embryos, des
Serious moves are afoot to allow ending the lives of dementia patients, either by allowing them to be killed by lethal jab euthanasia if requested in a written advance directive (where legal), or to allow a document to be signed requiring caregivers to withhold sufficient food and water to sustain life. New Jersey seems to move subtly in the latter direction with a vaguely worded bill, S.B. 4186, that could open the door to intentional legal undernourishment. From the bill: It is the public policy of this State to respect the dignity, autonomy, and previously expressed wishes of individuals li
Canada has gone hog wild for euthanasia. But the pro-death tide may — may — be beginning to turn. The province of Alberta just passed a bill that significantly restricts eligibility for euthanasia (medical aid in dying, or MAID), soon to be signed into binding law. The biggest change in Bill 18 ends the eligibility of non-terminally-ill patients to be MAIDed (known as Track 2). Among the provisions of Bill 18 (“Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act”), as summarized by the government: Eligibility in Alberta to individuals 18 and over with capacity to make their own health care deci
Uterine transplants are becoming more common to enable infertile women — and perhaps, eventually men — to give birth. How’s that project going? A new study detailing the outcomes of more than 40 cases of uterine transplants and subsequent IVF-enabled pregnancies published in JAMA provides details: Between 2016 and March 2026, a total of 44 women underwent uterus transplant. One month after uterus transplant, 37 women had a viable transplanted uterus. As of April 2026, a total of 33 women underwent embryo transfer (90 embryos), resulting in 47 clinical pregnancies in 31 unique women, 39 of whic
The other day, I wrote about Wendy Duffy, a healthy woman in deep grief because of the death of her son, who was planning to die at a Swiss death clinic. Alas, Duffy apparently did the deed. From the New York Post story: The physically healthy British mom, irreparably heartbroken over the death of her only son, died by euthanasia in Switzerland on Friday. Wendy Duffy, 56, died at the Pegasos assisted suicide clinic in Basel, in what the controversial organization called a “sane suicide,” the Daily Mail reported. “I can confirm that Wendy Duffy, at her own request, was assisted to die on April
A grieving mother who is in good health has been accepted for termination by a Swiss suicide clinic. From the New York Post story: A physically healthy British woman heartbroken over the death of her only son is heading to Switzerland to end her own life at an assisted suicide clinic. Wendy Duffy, 56, attempted to take her own life after her son died four years ago — but is soon bound for Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, after her application was accepted by a clinic, according to the London Times. Duffy, a former care worker from the West Midlands, told the Daily Mail that she pa
Assisted suicide is not discussed much at the federal level. But at a recent Senate committee hearing, Senator James Lankford (R., Okla.) asked HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his thoughts on assisted suicide. Kennedy was unequivocal (starting at minute 3:30): Lankford: I want to switch to an issue we have not had a lot of time to talk about and that is assisted suicide. We now have three states, California, Colorado, and Vermont that disability groups are filing against some of the assisted suicide laws because it seems to target those with disabilities and the Americans with Disabi
After a bear was euthanized in California because she paw-swiped a human who owned a house under which the bruin and her cubs were living, there was a popular outcry. Now, a bill has been put in the hopper in the California State Senate promoting “coexistence” between people and wild animals. From S.B. 1135: It is the policy of the state that the management of wildlife shall include an emphasis on the coexistence of humans and wildlife through department-led efforts to reduce, minimize, and mitigate conflicts. These efforts shall also seek to align with the state’s conservation, public safety,
On April 20, Wesley J. Smith appeared on Ave Maria in the Afternoon, hosted by Marcus B. Peter, to discuss his recent article, “Bioethicists Argue That an Unborn Baby Is Merely a ‘Gestator’s’ Body Part.” Smith explains how the authors of a recent Journal of Medical Ethics article employed philosophy to redefine human life, defying the established definitions of science. He also explores the political and legislative implications if this changed definition is accepted. “We can make metaphysical claims, we can make moral claims,” Smith told Peter, “but they should not be such that we deny basic
Anyone paying attention knows that the medical establishment does not believe in any restriction on abortion, and moreover, that it should be provided free anytime a woman wants to terminate a pregnancy. For example, a current editorial in The Lancet celebrates the editors’ view that more than 800 million women recently gaining better access to abortion, while decrying “barriers” such as waiting periods (and unstated, ultrasound imaging) that data shows, save the lives of unborn babies: Gains in legal access to abortion are worth celebrating. An analysis between 1994 and 2023 by Katy Mayall an
Once killing becomes an acceptable answer to human suffering, the kinds of “suffering” that justifies killing continually expands. In the Netherlands, where mental illness can provide the pretext for being MAIDed and there are no age limits (including infanticide for disability), it was recently reported that a suicidal autistic teenager was lethally injected in 2023. From the National Post story: Four-and-a-half years after he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a Dutch teen was euthanized at his request. The boy, aged between 16 and 18, had described his life as “joyless.” He’d stru
Chinese doctors murder and organ harvest political prisoners. As detailed in “Killed to Order,” a thoroughly researched new book by Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek, political prisoners such as Falun Gong practitioners and Uygur Muslims are tissue-typed and killed to supply product for the country’s burgeoning transplant black market in human kidneys and livers. This is why the wait for a vital organ in China may be as short as a week, whereas it may take years in countries with ethical transplant systems. The Chinese Communist Party is an unmitigated tyranny, and the government deploys
A Canadian activist has argued that the mentally ill must have access to euthanasia to prevent their committing suicide. From the National Post story: A leading MAID advocate argued to parliamentarians last month that Canada must legalize assisted suicide for the mentally ill, lest those same patients commit suicide. The statement was made at a March 24 parliamentary committee debating the legalization of MAID for Canadians whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness.” Jocelyn Downie, a leading MAID activist since 2004, warned that if the federal government keeps excluding men
If we’re just matter, why do we matter? Modern bioethics is built on a question most people never stop to ask: What is a human being? Because the answer to that question isn’t abstract, it determines how we treat the most vulnerable people among us. From IVF and embryo selection, to assisted suicide and end-of-life care, to gene editing and transhumanism. We are already making decisions about who counts and who doesn’t. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ashley Fernandes, a physician, bioethicist, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Associate Director o
Brave new world alert! Scientists used a machine deployed in organ transplant medicine to keep a surgically removed human uterus alive for one day, furthering the goal of being able to use donated uteri experimentally over long periods of time, including for gestation. From the MIT Technology story: The team members want to keep donated human uteruses alive long enough to see a full menstrual cycle. They hope this will help them study diseases of the uterus and learn more about how embryos burrow their way into the organ’s lining at the start of a pregnancy. They also hope that future iteratio
The push for unlimited abortion access is now advancing beyond the issue of “choice.” A newly published article in Ethics, the University of Chicago Press’s prestigious peer-reviewed journal, argues that pregnant minors must abort — even if that requires coercion and force. The authors, a University of British Columbia philosophy professor and an aspiring philosopher, emphasize the fact that minors are children. From “Justice for Girls: On Provision of Abortion as Adequate Care” (citations omitted, my emphases): Both opponents of abortion and liberal defenders of a woman’s right to control her
Do cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in jeopardy justify abortion? These are the hardest questions in the abortion debate: emotionally charged, deeply tragic, and often used to challenge the pro-life position. But how should we think about these cases from a medical, ethical, and human perspective? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, priest, neuroscientist, and Senior Ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, to take on these difficult questions head-on. We explore: If you’ve ever wondered how to think clearly and compassionately a
In an age of IVF, embryo selection, and a rapidly expanding fertility industry, couples facing infertility are often given a clear message: if you want a child badly enough, technology can make it happen. But what if that’s not the whole story? What if infertility is not just a medical condition to be solved but a profound personal, relational, and even spiritual trial? And what if a life without biological children can still be deeply meaningful and truly fruitful? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Leigh Snead, author of Infertile but Fruitful, fellow with the Catholic Associ
Planned Parenthood is having a rougher time than it once did. Fifty or so clinics have closed due to financial difficulties associated with defunding from the government. Not to worry! As reported in the New York Times — a California clinic is offering cosmetic procedures to help keep the doors open. First, the Times‘ reporter Alisha Haridasani Gupta, describes the core mission of PP clinics. Notice what she leaves out: Nationwide, Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control, preventive sexual health screenings, prenatal care and primary care for millions of patients, many of them on Medi
As the West lunges toward propagating a right to be made dead, the deleterious societal impacts of being legally “MAIDed” (killed by “medical assistance in dying”) are becoming increasingly clear. A recent professional analysis published in the Psychiatric Times illustrates the lethal influence on mentally ill suicidal people — including youth — in the Netherlands. From “Psychiatric Euthanasia in the Netherlands: Young People, Procedural Medicine, and the Limits of Psychiatry” (citations omitted): Requests for euthanasia on psychiatric grounds have risen sharply, with a disproportionate increa
IVF was introduced as a way to address infertility, even though it is fraught with ethical problems. But today, it increasingly involves grading embryos, screening genetic traits, and deciding which embryos are chosen. Are we entering an era where reproduction becomes human design? In this episode, Harvard-trained biochemist Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., explains how modern IVF increasingly involves eugenic practices. We examine: As IVF expands beyond infertility “treatment” and into optimization, urgent questions emerge about human dignity, disability, and the moral limits of reproductive technolog
Most of the media are in the tank (remember Brittany Maynard?) for the assisted suicide/euthanasia agenda and, as a consequence, are primarily interested in reporting on stories of “good deaths.” That criticism does not apply to The Atlantic, which recently published a scathing exposé of the cruelties inherent in Canada’s euthanasia regime. Now, staff writer Elizabeth Bruenig has published an important piece detailing how a mentally ill 31-year-old woman named Eileen Mihich was able to access poison drugs by writing herself a fraudulent prescription for death, which was filled unquestioningly
What happens after killing is legalized? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, to examine what Canada’s euthanasia regime reveals about medicine, consent, and human dignity. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are often framed as compassion about choice, autonomy, and relief from suffering. But as Canada’s MAiD system shows, once killing becomes legal, safeguards collapse, definitions expand, and the most vulnerable people are placed at risk. In this conversation, we discuss: This is a difficult conversation,
Euthanasia conjoined with organ harvesting just took a particularly disturbing turn in Spain, where a woman was euthanized and then had part of her face transplanted. From the Catalan News story: Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona has performed the world’s first face transplant with a donor who passed away from euthanasia. Around 100 medical professionals took part in the partial face transplant, a highly complex operation using neurovascular microsurgery techniques that lasted about 24 hours. In presenting the milestone procedure, the healthcare director, Maria José Abadías, highl
The French Senate has said “Non” to legalizing assisted suicide. From the Le Monde story: The Sénat, the French Parliament’s upper house, on Wednesday, January 28, rejected a government-backed draft law on assisted dying that had been billed as one of the country’s most important societal changes in more than a decade. The law easily passed the lower Assemblée Nationale last year but was so watered down by right-wing and centrist lawmakers, in often angry and chaotic debate in the upper chamber, that supporters of the initiative said it no longer made sense. So, what did the “watering down” ac
After restricting funding for primate research for ethical reasons, the National Institutes of Health has followed up by banning funding of fetal tissue research. From the NIH press release: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced a new policy ending the use of human fetal tissue in NIH-supported research, marking a significant milestone in the Trump Administration’s efforts to modernize biomedical science and accelerate innovate. Effective immediately, NIH funds will no longer be used to support research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions. The policy applies
What is the real human cost of abortion—especially chemical abortion? In this powerful and deeply personal conversation, Toni McFadden shares her abortion story with unflinching honesty. As a teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy, Toni had a chemical abortion believing it was the only way out. What followed wasn’t relief—but years of silence, trauma, emotional grief, and spiritual brokenness. Toni recounts what the abortion pill experience was really like, the isolation she felt, the long road of unhealed pain, and how abortion affected not only her—but also the child’s father, her future mar
