Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
What happened
The FBI Sunday said a 25-year-old with "nihilistic ideations" was the primary suspect, and only fatality, in a car bombing on Saturday that damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California, and injured four people. Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, called the "targeted attack against the IVF facility" an "intentional act of terrorism" and probably the "largest bombing scene that we've had in Southern California."
Who said what
Davis said the "primary suspect," Guy Edward Bartkus, appeared to have tried to livestream the explosion and the FBI was studying a "possible manifesto" tied to the bomber. The writings were "anti-pro-life," said U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli. The suspect appeared to be "antinatalist," a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times, and he "used a very large amount of explosives — so many that the bomb shredded his remains."
The antinatalism movement, which considers procreating unethical or unjustifiable, "specifically condemns violence," Brian Levin, an extremism expert at Cal State San Bernardino, told the Times. The bomber's "purported rambling, idiosyncratic 'political’ statements'" suggest he was a "hopeless unstable young man" driven to a "brutal death" by a "personally distorted embrace of an obscure anti-life ideology."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
Dr. Maher Abdallah, who leads the bombed American Reproductive Centers clinic, said on social media that none of the embryos stored there were damaged and the clinic would be fully operational Monday morning. "Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients," he told The Associated Press on Saturday.
-
The ultimate films of 2025 by genreThe Week Recommends From comedies to thrillers, documentaries to animations, 2025 featured some unforgettable film moments
-
Political cartoons for January 3Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include citizen journalists, self-reflective AI, and Donald Trump's transparency
-
Into the Woods: a ‘hypnotic’ productionThe Week Recommends Jordan Fein’s revival of the much-loved Stephen Sondheim musical is ‘sharp, propulsive and often very funny’
-
How the Bondi massacre unfoldedIn Depth Deadly terrorist attack during Hanukkah celebration in Sydney prompts review of Australia’s gun control laws and reckoning over global rise in antisemitism
-
Sole suspect in Brown, MIT shootings found deadSpeed Read The mass shooting suspect, a former Brown grad student, died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds
-
Who is fuelling the flames of antisemitism in Australia?Today’s Big Question Deadly Bondi Beach attack the result of ‘permissive environment’ where warning signs were ‘too often left unchecked’
-
Ten years after Bataclan: how has France changed?Today's Big Question ‘Act of war’ by Islamist terrorists was a ‘shockingly direct challenge’ to Western morality
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
