The conventional meaning of being “pro-life” is related to the abortion issue. Whereas abortion advocates identified themselves as being “pro-abortion” or “pro-choice,” those who opposed abortion responded by calling themselves “pro-life.” Being “anti-abortion” was a tag placed on those who opposed abortion to make them seem negative.

An incident has taken place at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, that has amplified the meaning of being “pro-life.” A man by the name of Guy Edward Bartkus posted an audio clip explaining why he wanted to blow up the clinic. “I would be considered a “pro-mortalist,” he told the world, before detonating his Ford Fusion, killing himself and injuring four others. “Let’s make the death thing,” he had stated, “happen sooner rather than later in life.”

Investigators called the incident “terrorism” and “nihilistic ideation.” The Trump administration officials, however, had a more interesting named for it—“anti-pro-life.”  Although a somewhat awkward expression, it does focus on life. It specifies being against being for life. One might recall the longest word in the English language—antidisestablishmentarianism—meaning against the Church of England. Being “pro-life” has now expanded to cover the entire range of human life. It now includes being opposed to suicide or groups that place death on a higher level than life.

According to the New York Times (May 25, 2025), the late Mr. Bartkus belonged to a larger intellectual movement. It is currently a fringe group but gaining in popularity. The number of young people who assert that they do not want to bring children into this world is increasing.  The philosophy that motivates the group as well as its variants is that procreation is immoral because it inevitably leads to death. Moreover, suffering outweighs the chances of happiness.  We find a precursor of this type of thinking in Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). Known as the most pessimistic of all philosophers, he advised us that we should regard every man, “first and foremost as a being who exists only as a consequence of his culpability and whose life is an expiation of the crime of being born.” Some “pro-mortalists” (who favor death rather than being mortal, which we all are) maintain that birth should be followed as quickly as possible by death. It is a homicidal way of thinking.

Bishop Fulton Sheen, many years ago, wrote a series of books entitled Life Is Worth Living, which became the basis of his enormously successful TV series of the same name. He proposed that faith in God, love of neighbor, and embrace of virtue would give rich meaning to life. Life is worth living, just as a violin is worth playing, if one does it right. Hamlet’s undying question, “To be or not to be,” continues to haunt our minds.

The current situation may be more acute than it was in the time of Venerable Bishop Sheen. The decline of Christianity is one factor. The admonition to carry one’s Cross on a daily basis does not resonate well in a world of comfort. At the same time, the salvific meaning of suffering is lost in a culture that insists on immediacy. Atheism is another factor. If there is no God, then there is no afterlife. Therefore, complete happiness is demanded in this world. And if it does not arrive, the thought of ending one’s life becomes more attractive.

The pro-life message has been broadened, applying now to life in general. Abortion may have been an important factor in establishing a preference for death over life. Is there any point in living when one is unwanted and his prospects for happiness are dim? This attitude, used to rationalize abortion, is the same attitude that can rationalize suicide.

We should not view life as an unmovable obstacle. This kind of thinking leads to despair. Life . . . is the opportunity for developing one’s personality. “Do you not see,” wrote the poet John Keats in a letter to his family, “how necessary a World of Pains and trouble is to school an Intelligence and make it a soul? A place where the heart must feel and suffer in a thousand ways?” Keats was 23 at the time and would pass away two years later of consumption.

The world is a vale of soul-making. We are all possessed with intelligence to one degree or another. But it is not until we have passed through the crucible of pains and troubles do we become a real soul, a spark of the Divinity, a fulfilled personality. Life does not cater to us. It is a challenge. We must use life as the potter moulds clay. We have to make something of ourselves, and the effort is what makes life worth living.

In an affluent society many things are handed to us. But when the handing out ceases, we may be lost as to what we should do next. And then the specter of suicide might enter our mind. We curse life instead of challenging it. We forget that we are a player and not a passive member of the audience. But we are not alone. We can befriend others who are struggling with the same problem. What we do not need is advice offered by pro-death, anti-natalist groups. If anything, as pro-lifers in the broadest sense, we should be helping them.