In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.France’s National Assembly recently passed physician-assisted killing. Far more than just another policy debate, the dramatic vote crossed a major social and cultural threshold. This “turning point in the nation’s history,” as the local Catholic bishops put it, means that France now finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to show how killing is compatible with a coherent understanding of healthcare.Delegates from the American Medical Association, in stark contrast, reaffirmed by supermajority vote in June 2025 that PAK is “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” Most countries and U.S. states agree with the AMA and reject the practice.
For now. The international push for PAK is well-funded and well-organized. As more and more states and countries find themselves on the verge of legalizing it, the question pro-lifers have been pushing for decades remains at the center of the debate: “What is healthcare?”One could be forgiven for wondering whether a massive, foundational, thorny, and even metaphysical question could really take hold in a fragmented public discourse dominated by 20-second video clips. But I believe we are on the verge of attempting to answer this question and many other foundational questions like it.The AI revolution will force our cultural hand. (Washington Examiner illustration; Getty Images)
