American pro-life groups are grieving the choice made by popular children’s book author Robert Munch to eventually end his life by physician-assisted suicide.
It’s “heartbreaking” that he wants to “pursue assisted suicide,” says
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life
, which describes itself as a
federation of state affiliates that works to protect those threatened by abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Tobias points to Munch’s book “Love You Forever” as
illustrative of the kind of care and unconditional love
that should be extended to someone during their final days.
Munsch, 80, has written 85 published books including “Love You Forever,” “The Paper Bag Princess,” and “Mud Puddle.” He has been diagnosed with dementia as well as Parkinson’s. And he has previously struggled with a stroke, depression, alcoholism and lost two children (who were stillborn).
He talked about applying for the Canadian program known as MAID (medical assistance in dying) shortly after it was legalized in 2016, in a long feature in the
, published earlier this month.
While he hasn’t chosen a date for his death, he’s aware that his health could fail to the point when he wouldn’t be eligible for ask for MAID because of a diminished ability to communicate. So, he decided to act proactively. He says when he starts “having real trouble talking and communicating. Then I’ll know.”
Tobias disagrees. Instead,
:
“(e)very life has inherent value, no matter the circumstances, and our society should be investing in excellent palliative care and support systems — not in policies that treat vulnerable people as if their lives are disposable.”
In “Love You Forever,” Munsch tells the story of a mother’s unconditional love for her son as he grows, she notes. At the end of the tale, the son is grown, and his mother nears death, he cradles her in a rocking chair.
He sings: ‘I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my Mommy you’ll be.’”
In an
essay for the Human Life Foundation
, Virginia-based Catholic writer Jacqueline O’Hara writes that the song in Love You Forever was inspired, in part, by Munsch’s grief over losing two children. Originally, the wording to this “sweet refrain” (as she calls it) was: “I’ll love you forever / I’ll like you for always / As long as I’m living / my baby you’ll be.”
“Sadly,” O’Hara, comments, “Munsch seems to have forgotten this message.”
She also suggests that Munsch “unfortunately…lost his faith pretty early on in his life” and without it, argues that “Munsch fails to see the value in his suffering.” (In the New York Times Magazine article, Munch acknowledged a desire to become a priest when he was 18 and joining the Jesuits for seven years before his faith “wavered out the door.” Instead, he studied early childhood education at Tufts University.)
Message from Julie Munsch
My father IS NOT DYING!!!
Thanks to everyone and their well wishes, however, my father’s…
Posted by Robert Munsch on Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Munsch has stated that he will “have to pick the moment when (he) can still ask for it.” As previously reported by
, he worries that if he loses capacity before then, his wife Ann will be “stuck with me being a lump.”
O’Hara counters this fear as “heartbreakingly misguided.” She again harkens back to “Love You Forever” and points to children as beloved “burdens.” And, finally argues that when parents “children can finally return the love and service their parents showered on them throughout their lives.”
Meanwhile, as
National Post has also reported
, Munch is not dying at this moment. He is “doing well,” his daughter posted on Facebook on Sept. 16, adding that “of course with a degenerative disease it can begin to progress quickly at any point.”
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