A car bomb exploded in the parking lot behind the American Reproductive Centers facility in Palm Springs, California, last week. One person was killed and four people were injured. The deceased, found next to the car, has been identified as Guy Edward Bartkus, the alleged perpetrator. The FBI quickly deemed it an “intentional act of terrorism.”
According to the clinic, the building itself sustained significant damage, but “all embryos and reproductive material remain fully secured and undamaged.” The fact that no one but the perpetrator lost their life is remarkable. The act of violence is disturbing, and the apparent motivations behind it are truly chilling.
The suspect is known to have held nihilistic, antinatalist, and pro-mortalist views. Bartkus detailed his reasons for the attack: “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 and that, you know, nobody got my consent to bring me here.”
Bartkus was apparently a suicidal maniac, bent on causing as much destruction as possible while killing others along the way. The main reason for his rage? Merely existing in the first place.
There are still far too many people in the U.S. who believe life is expendable, both in the womb and outside of it. Life holds inestimable worth whether it’s a baby growing in a womb, an embryo stored at a fertility clinic, the lives of the employees who work there, or a stranger passing by on the street. The perpetrator of the violence at the clinic cared nothing for his own life or the lives of anyone else.
It’s a mindset we’ve seen far too often lately when it’s in service of some supposedly righteous cause. Luigi Mangione allegedly took Brian Thompson’s life because he was mad at the healthcare industry. Elias Rodriguez allegedly took the lives of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim and yelled “Free Palestine!” Guy Edward Bartkus’s cause? To kill himself and others because no one asked his permission to be born.
Bartkus’s self-hatred and nihilism were so strong that he looked beyond himself to cause harm. He chose a reproductive facility because it represents the thing he most hated: being brought into this world. While people hold strong opinions on both sides of the IVF debate, all involved prize life far more than Bartkus did. To him, nothing mattered. As a result, he believed life, his and everyone else’s, should be thrown away as quickly as possible.
Violence is always shocking. It is especially egregious when it is aimed at innocent human beings. It reaches another level of evil when it’s directed at those who want to help couples have children, and even the children themselves.
FBI LAUNCHES TERRORISM INVESTIGATION AFTER EXPLOSION OUTSIDE PALM SPRINGS FERTILITY CLINIC
Bartkus was a very troubled individual who hated his own existence. His antinatalist views meant he believed having children was a moral wrong. As a pro-mortalist, he was a “being who intends to bring about their own death as soon as possible in order ‘to prevent your future suffering, and, more importantly, the suffering your existence will cause to all the other sentient beings,’” the Independent explains.
Not a single one of us asked to be brought into this world. That never means life, even in times of intense turmoil, is worthless. The same applies to those around us, friends, family, and complete strangers alike. Even Bartkus’s life mattered. Unfortunately, it seems he would disagree.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributor to the Magnolia Tribune.