Breakpoint Podcast: “2025: A Mixed Bag for Human Dignity”

Host: John Stonestreet, Colson Center
Date: December 1, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, John Stonestreet applies a Christian worldview to contemporary cultural and political developments impacting human dignity in America throughout 2025. He analyzes the ethical implications of the Biden administration’s IVF policy, legislative advances on assisted suicide, recent Supreme Court decisions affecting pro-life protections, and the ongoing responsibilities of Christians in these cultural conflicts. The tone is urgent yet hopeful, emphasizing both advocacy and prayerful action.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Biden Administration’s IVF Policy

• Summary:
  • President Biden rolled out new initiatives to dramatically reduce costs and increase insurance coverage and access for in vitro fertilization (IVF). This was framed by the President as a pro-life agenda.
• Christian Worldview Critique:
  • John Stonestreet strongly challenges the claim that IVF is pro-life, arguing that common IVF practices result in more lives lost or left in suspended animation than are actually born.
  • He cites Kristen Hawkins (Students for Life) that the IVF industry results in the loss of more preborn babies than the abortion industry and involves eugenics practices.

Quote:

• “IVF is not pro life. It's not even pro fertility. While born children do result from IVF the way it's most often practiced results in far more lives being lost or suspended in time in a freezer than any which survive.”
  — John Stonestreet [01:19]

• “The IVF industry kills more preborn babies than the abortion industry, it doesn't cure infertility, and it practices eugenics.”
  — Kristen Hawkins, cited by John Stonestreet [01:49]

2. Illinois Bill on Assisted Suicide

• Legislative Update:

  • The Illinois Senate passed a bill legalizing assisted suicide (attached to an unrelated food sanitation measure), now awaiting the governor’s signature or veto.
  • Details: Patients with less than six months to live could access life-ending medicine after approval by both a physician and mental health professional, with safeguards such as multiple requests and witnesses.

• Concerns About Safeguards and Precedents:

  • John Stonestreet describes assisted suicide as a “culturally slippery slope” where safeguards regularly erode, citing Colorado’s legislative changes since legalizing assisted suicide in 2016.
  • Potential for “suicide tourism” as restrictions disappear, for example, allowing out-of-state patients or those with eating disorders to access lethal drugs.

Quote:

• “Assisted suicide is the best example of a culturally slippery slope. In fact, it's the best example there is. Anytime it's practiced, so called safeguards inevitably fail. Patients are always left susceptible to both cultural and financial pressures to die.”
  — John Stonestreet [02:45]

3. Supreme Court and State Pro-Life Actions

• Positive Judicial Developments:

  • Supreme Court ruled that states can defund Planned Parenthood. As a result, over 20 states now exclude abortion groups from Medicaid funding.
  • Three significant high court cases are upcoming:
    • Whether doctors must inform women that chemical abortions may be reversible
    • Insurance coverage of elective abortions
    • Crisis pregnancy centers’ rights to not advertise state-approved abortion services

• Cultural Backdrop:

  • Despite these victories, Stonestreet warns of a “dangerous view about human dignity” now permeating culture, focused excessively on autonomy and sexual freedom, disadvantaging vulnerable populations.

Quote:

• “Even as the Court has taken significant steps to defend our most vulnerable citizens, the wider American culture continues to embrace and advance a dangerous view about human dignity and value and therefore continues to advance a culture of death.”
  — John Stonestreet [04:40]

4. Christian Response: Love, Advocacy, and Distinct Living

• Call to Action:
  • Stonestreet exhorts Christians not only to celebrate legal and legislative progress but to act and pray on behalf of the vulnerable—both young and elderly—as emphasized by theologian Stanley Hauerwas.

Quote:

• “If in a hundred years Christians are known as those who did not kill their young and did not kill their elderly, we will have done well.”
  — Stanley Hauerwas, cited by John Stonestreet [05:08]

• “Christians have to love and serve those who are the most vulnerable among us. We have to seek to persuade as many as we can that each and every person is made in the image and likeness of God, and we have to live differently than the world around us.”
  — John Stonestreet [05:17]

5. Building a Resilient Christian Worldview

• Final Encouragement:
  • Stonestreet underscores the mission of Breakpoint: to provide clarity for Christians so they can build strong churches, families, and schools, and to influence the world by living out their distinct worldview.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “IVF is not pro life. It's not even pro fertility... far more lives being lost or suspended in time in a freezer than any which survive.”
  — John Stonestreet [01:19]

• “The IVF industry kills more preborn babies than the abortion industry, it doesn't cure infertility, and it practices eugenics.”
  — Kristen Hawkins (as quoted by Stonestreet) [01:49]

• “Assisted suicide is the best example of a culturally slippery slope... safeguards inevitably fail.”
  — John Stonestreet [02:45]

• “If in a hundred years Christians are known as those who did not kill their young and did not kill their elderly, we will have done well.”
  — Stanley Hauerwas (as quoted by Stonestreet) [05:08]

Segment Timestamps

• [00:01] — Opening and IVF Policy Discussion
• [01:19] — Critique of IVF from Christian Worldview
• [02:05] — Illinois Assisted Suicide Bill Details
• [02:45] — Dangers and Slippery Slope of Assisted Suicide
• [04:08] — Supreme Court and State-level Pro-Life Advances
• [05:08] — Theologian’s Challenge and Christian Mandate
• [05:17] — Call for Practical Action and Distinct Christian Living

Memorable Moments

• The juxtaposition of political rhetoric (“you just can't get more pro life than this”) with theological critique on IVF.
• The illustration of “suicide tourism” as a cautionary tale from Colorado's evolving assisted suicide laws.
• The call to Christians to be known in history as “those who did not kill their young and did not kill their elderly.”

Conclusion

This episode delivers a thoughtful, conviction-driven critique of recent legal and policy trends impacting human dignity, urging listeners to respond with clarity, action, and compassion rooted in the Christian worldview. Stonestreet’s blend of cultural analysis, ethical argument, and theological reflection provides both challenge and encouragement for listeners seeking to understand and engage the most pressing issues of life in 2025.