While some in the media attempted to portray the bomber of the Palm Springs fertility clinic as a right-wing anti-abortion zealot, the person taking credit for the bombing, Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of Twentynine Palms, describes himself on X as a “pro-mortalist” which is an ideology that celebrates death and opposes the creation of all new life.
Pro-mortalism is the antithesis of the pro-life perspective. Unlike the pro-life viewpoint, which values all life as sacred from conception until natural death, the pro-mortalist believes that it is best for any human being to die as soon as possible. In fact, the true believer of this extreme example of the culture of death maintains that they are doing good works when they eliminate themselves and others. (RELATED: A Miracle Baby Is Surviving His Mother’s Brain Death, and the Left Is Outraged)
In fact, in his manifesto, Bartkus wrote: “I think we need a war against the pro-lifers. It is clear at this point that these people aren’t only stupid. They simply do not care about the harm they are perpetuating by being willing agents for a DNA molecule.” He continued: “I’m very against [IVF], it’s extremely wrong. These are people who are having kids after they’ve sat there and thought about it. How much more stupid can it get?”
For the pro-mortalist, every new human being only adds to the inevitable suffering on the planet; therefore, all births should be prevented. A fertility clinic is anathema to the true pro-mortalist because it is a site of the creation of new life. And although the Trump administration, which has promoted IVF, appears that it may not have thought through the profound complexities of this type of fertility treatment, Catholic teachings warn against in vitro fertilization (IVF) due to ethical concerns about manipulating the process of conception as well as decrying the commodification of creating life in this form. Faithful Catholics decry the routine disposal of “extra” embryos in the creation of life through IVF.
Acknowledging the importance of the lives of the embryos in his clinic, Dr. Maher Abdallah, the owner of the Palm Springs fertility clinic, reassured prospective parents that “the embryos are safe.” A website for the office listed fertility treatments, such as in vitro fertilization and egg freezing, among its services and describes its work helping LGBTQ couples have children: “Fortunately for us, our staff was unharmed and the IVF lab is intact, untouched, unharmed. The embryos are safe.”
Even the deranged clinic bomber acknowledged that there were indeed thousands of embryonic human beings to be killed inside that fertility clinic awaiting implantation. That was his true goal — to kill as many as possible before they were allowed to be born. Pro-mortalism is truly the endgame of a culture of death that began with the unlimited right to abortion for any reason, at any stage of pregnancy, through the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, which ushered in a culture of death that eventually allowed late term abortion, and “born alive” abortion to occur.
Roe opened the door to some of the most depraved practices including the selling of the aborted products of conception to medical research labs, and to the “late term” practice of severing the spines of aborted late term fetuses with surgical scissors to ensure “fetal demise” by some of the most notorious abortion providers like Kermit Gosnell. (RELATED: America’s Abortion Blind Spot: How Liberals Convinced Americans to Ignore the Fetus)
The pro-mortalist ideology is the logical extension of a culture of death, which views life as a burden rather than a gift. Bartkus is not a “lone wolf” in this ideology. There is an online community that Bartkus was part of that shares this same perspective. While the sub-group efilism — that Bartus was a part of — is the extreme form of the pro-mortalist community and has been banned on Reddit following the bombing, the ideology will continue to live on, seducing vulnerable, depressed individuals who believe that their lives are not worth living. There are currently more than 12 thousand followers of Efilism on Reddit alone.
Efilism (life spelled backwards) is simply a negative utilitarian philosophy that attempts to minimize suffering by ending life. It is the logical extension of the euthanasia culture we seem to be embracing in this country.
Indeed, when asked why he chose now to bomb the fertility clinic, Bartkus wrote that although he knew for a few years that he was not going to allow himself to live past his 20s, his best friend, Sophie, killed herself (Bartkus said that she got the guy she was living with to shoot her while she was sleeping, her preferred method), and was distraught over her death. Bartkus wrote: “I did not really know how much it was going to affect me. I’ve never related to someone so much, and can’t imagine I ever would again.” We were both anti-sex misandrists. VegAntinatalist, negative utilitarians.”
The father of Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill, wrote in 1863 that “The ultimate end is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments.” Today’s negative utilitarians have given up all hope for any enjoyment in life, and that is the greatest tragedy of all. In their deranged minds, they believe that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking their lives and the lives of others. For them, that is the greatest good they can perform.
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