As a parent, it is hard to read Robert Munsch’s children’s book Love You Forever without crying. Just the other night, my husband and I were bawling over the story’s touching ending as our toddler watched in confusion.
I’ll Love You Forever is a sweet story of a mother and son growing old together. In the daytime, the son might drive his mother crazy, but every night, she sings him this lullaby:
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
my baby you’ll be.[1]
The song stems from the author’s undying love for his preborn children – more on that later – and beautifully portrays the dignity of old age. This is what makes the author’s current state all the more tragic.
Munsch and MAID
In September of 2025, author Robert Munsch shared that he had been approved for MAID, Canada’s euphemistically-named medical assistance in dying, due to his diagnosis of dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
The 80-year-old explained how he will decide when to die: “I have to pick the moment when I can still ask for it,” he said. “When I start having real trouble talking and communicating. Then I’ll know.”[2]
In Canada, a person who qualifies for MAID must be able to “give informed consent” on the day of his death.[3]
Munsch explained that he watched his brother die slowly from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and did not want to linger in the same way, even joking with his wife that if he waited too long for MAID, then she would be stuck with a “lump.”[4]
After the article about Munsch began circulating in September, his daughter Julie took to Facebook – seemingly unperturbed by her father’s decision to end his life – to downplay the situation. She wrote, “Thanks to everyone and their well wishes, however, my father’s choice to use MAID was in fact made 5 years ago, this is not new news and it was discussed in an interview with the CBC in 2021.”[5]
All personhood advocates should take alarm at this. Contrast this with Munsch’s own ending to Love You Forever: as the aging mother reaches her final days, her son comes to visit her. When she is too weak to sing her loving lullaby, the son picks up his mother and sings to her instead: “…As long as I’m living, my Mommy you’ll be.”
While Munsch’s story of 40 years ago announces the clear personhood message of care for the elderly, his public stance of today regarding MAID sends the opposite message.
Back to the Beginning
40 years ago, Munsch was not ruminating over his own impending death. He was mourning the loss of his two stillborn children.
According to Munsch’s website, the oft-repeated song in his book “was my song to my dead babies. For a long time I had it in my head and I couldn’t even sing it because every time I tried to sing it I cried. It was very strange having a song in my head that I couldn’t sing.”[6]
Eventually, Munsch turned his undying love for his deceased children into a book about undying love from the earliest moments of life to the very last moments. The message was clear: life is worth living. Even in the chaos, even in the mess, even in old age, every life has value.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Robert Munsch, in his contradictions, has demonstrated two very different ways to handle tragedy. In the face of tragedy, one can look inward, ruminate, and run away from problems – or worse, try to end them in ways contrary to God’s will. Alternatively, one can look outside of himself, embrace the cross Christ has given him, and turn suffering into something beautiful.
Georgia Right to Life strives to take the latter road and walk with people on their personal via crucis. You, reader, can do this in your own life, too, by ministering to the elderly in your community and in your family, as well as those who feel hopeless and those who worry about being a burden to others. Help by giving them courage to say “no” to the temptation to resort to unnatural death.
As Christians, prayer is undeniably essential as well. Pray for Robert Munsch to have a change of heart, pray for his daughter to give him the security of undying love, and pray for all people who feel assisted suicide is their only option. Pray, as well, for a legislated end to all forms of assisted suicide. Remember, it is God “who put to death and give life,”[7] and the hour of each person’s death is reserved for Him alone to decide.
Lastly, advocate. Have you signed Georgia Right to Life’s Personhood Petition yet? The petition calls for the Georgia General Assembly to pass an amendment to the state constitution that boldly proclaims: “This state shall recognize the paramount right to life of all human beings as persons at any stage of development from fertilization to natural death.” Sign the petition here.
“If we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8 NASB).
Sources:
[1] Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
[2] Author Robert Munsch is approved for MAID | CBC
[4] Robert Munsch, Canadian children’s author, says he’s been approved for MAID | Global News
[5] Daughter Julie’s post shared on official Robert Munsch Facebook page
[7] Deuteronomy 32:39 NASB
Rachel Krause
Georgia Right to Life
Newsletter Editor