Palm Springs bombing suspect believed to be driven by anti-birth ideology

The suspect in the California fertility-clinic bombing was hostile to those he called “pro-lifers,” but he apparently wasn’t referring to anti-abortion activists.

An FBI spokesperson said investigators believe the suspect, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, was motivated by his belief in antinatalism, a fringe philosophy that holds human reproduction is morally wrong because nobody gives their consent to be born.

Bartkus was killed when his 2010 Ford Fusion exploded Saturday outside the American Fertility Centers in Palm Springs, a clinic specializing in in vitro fertilization, but left behind communications that include a written manifesto and an audio recording taking responsibility for the attack.

In the 30-minute recording, the speaker believed to be Bartkus begins: “Okay, so I figured I would just make a recording explaining why I’ve decided to bomb an IVF building, or clinic.”

“Basically, it just comes down to, I’m angry that I exist. Nobody got my consent to bring me here,” he says. “I know what you’re going to say: How can we have got your consent because you didn’t exist, blah blah blah? Exactly the point. There’s no way you can get consent to bring someone here, so don’t f—-ing do it, all right?”

.@ghostmthr has transcribed the audio recording of the manifesto of Guy E. Bartkus, the suicide bomber who killed himself while blowing up a Palm Springs, Calif. pregnancy clinic as an act of “warfare” against the pro-life and pro-natal movement. pic.twitter.com/Vp0J3H0B1Z

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 19, 2025

Bartkus, who lived about an hour away in Twentynine Palms, was the only fatality. The four people injured in the explosion have been released after being treated at a hospital, authorities said.

The blast destroyed the front of the clinic, but Dr. Maher Abdallah, the clinic director, told KCAL-TV that the IVF lab was “intact, untouched, unharmed, so the embryos are safe.”

Akil Davis, FBI Los Angeles Field Office assistant director in charge, said the suspect had “nihilistic ideations, and that this was a targeted attack against the IVF facility,” based on “some of the comments made in his manifesto.”

Interest in antinatalism rose with the 2006 publication of “Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence” by philosopher David Benatar, followed by the founding of Antinatalism International in 2020.

“I’d characterize antinatalism as a philosophical position that assigns a negative moral value to birth itself,” said Daren Banarse, a researcher and psychotherapist who practices in London. “It argues that bringing new life into the world is inherently harmful because the nature of existence guarantees suffering.”

In his manifesto, Bartkus doesn’t use the term “antinatalism”: He calls himself a “promortalist” and links to sources on “efilism,” or “life”-ism spelled backward, which are more radical philosophies.

According to Mr. Banarse, “what we’re seeing in this case appears to be an extreme manifestation where these ideas have transformed from philosophical contemplation into destructive action.”

“The related concepts of promortalism (advocating for hastening death) and efilism (viewing life itself as fundamentally flawed) represent particularly dark offshoots of antinatalist thinking,” he said.

Why now?

Bartkus said he was “put over the edge” by the recent suicide of his friend Sophie. They had agreed that “if one of us died, the other would probably soon follow,” he said.

Mr. Banarse said that “it’s crucial to understand that philosophy alone rarely drives such violence.”

“What we’re likely witnessing is the tragic intersection of isolation, psychological distress, and an online ecosystem that validated and amplified these views while providing a framework for targeting perceived enemies,” he said.

There is at least one other notorious U.S. attack with a connection to antinatalism.

Adam Lanza, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooter, left behind audio recordings that include one titled “My Antinatalism.” Bartkus includes a link to Lanza’s ruminations in his manifesto.

Bartkus’ website, promortalism.com, is identified with the tagline: “F—- you pro-lifers!” His written statements include “I think we need a war against pro-lifers.”

Even so, he doesn’t appear to connect the term to the anti-abortion advocates, the usual meaning of “pro-lifers.” In fact, he never mentions abortion.

Nearly 100 pro-life pregnancy centers and facilities have been attacked since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, but IVF clinics are generally not associated with the anti-abortion movement.

In fact, pro-life advocates have fought the IVF industry over the destruction of unwanted embryos, calling for regulations that require them to be preserved or donated.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, condemned the bombing as an example of the “anti-baby mindset.”

“Too many of our political leaders have made children an enemy to our planet, to our careers, and to our culture, when they are our greatest resource,” Ms. Hawkins said.