LifeDate Spring 2026 – Stand Firm For Life
by Rev. Caleb Stoever, Lutherans For Life of Kansas
Saint Peter warns us in Chapter 5 of his first letter:
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8–9).
While all of Scripture is true and faithful at all times and places, this warning from St. Peter can certainly feel more starkly true in our day in the defense of God-given life. If the devil isn’t devouring at one end, he is certainly devouring at the other. In 2024, there were 19,811 abortion procedures performed in my state of Kansas—the highest recorded for a single year and more than double the 7,849 in 2021. That is according to our own state Department of Health and Environment, not private statistics.
Most of the abortions in Kansas took place on children who were conceived and whose mothers lived out of state, which makes the work of sidewalk counselors and pregnancy resource centers more difficult, as they must be able to connect those seeking assistance with resources with which they are unfamiliar.
But if that weren’t enough for the devil’s prowling nature, he is again reminding us that he wants mankind to commit murder at all times, not just on those in the womb. Compassion & Choices (formerly the Hemlock Society) has been gaining ground across the United States in expanding “right to die” (otherwise known as “death with dignity”) laws. We know they seek to advance their practice through all fifty states and are slowly adding states as their funding and resources allow.
If you think that they will stop with new laws simply enabling those who are suffering to choose death six months early in a highly regulated environment, please be sober-minded and watchful.
This isn’t the way the laws have worked, nor is it what these groups are advocating. They want unrestricted access to murder at any time for any reason, just like abortion advocates have always wanted. There is no such thing as “safe, legal, and rare” as many have advocated for in the past, either in abortion or in euthanasia.
Canada, our neighbor to the north, is proof of such practice. The nation is continually expanding its euthanasia laws to encompass more people since euthanasia became legal in June of 2016. In 2024, there were 16,499 deaths due to legalized euthanasia, accounting for 5.1 percent of all deaths in Canada. It has gone from being illegal eight years ago to now causing five percent of all deaths, and they don’t get repeat customers.
By the way, if you want to see how the Canadian culture has accepted euthanasia, I think it is telling that 21 percent of all legalized euthanasia deaths in Canada took place in 2024. The current law prohibits those who are mentally ill from seeking such a death, but that provision is already set to expire as soon as legislators get on board. It is likely that by no later than 2027, Canada will expand those “rights” to those who are mentally ill and possibly to minors with parental consent.
It is sobering, to say the least, to observe how quickly the idolization of euthanasia has come to Canada and now to thirteen states and the District of Colombia. Illinois, Delaware, and New York have just been added in the last few months, which means the impact is just beginning. And the Kansas courts in Douglas County are seeing a challenge by Compassion & Choices to make Kansas yet another state in their euthanasia network.
Be sober-minded and watchful. How? Pray that God would not let our state or nation suffer another blow to life. Teach your children, friends, and neighbors that they are not a burden but a gift to be cherished no matter their condition, no matter the struggles, no matter the cost. Prepare for the day in which “medical aid in dying” (or MAID) will be legal and encouraged in this state.
Do we have the means to support those who are encouraged to die, especially when the state itself encourages it? This is what the Christian life looks like: supporting those who cannot support themselves in God-fearing and life-affirming ways.
This article originally appeared in the Lutherans For Life of Kansas e-newsletter for March 2026 and is reprinted by permission.