Fertility clinic bomber linked to anti-natalist ideology
The damaged front of the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic stands following a bomb blast on May 17, 2025, in Palm Springs, California. / Credit: David McNew/Getty Images
CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 14:33 pm (CNA).
Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:
*Fertility clinic bomber linked to anti-natalist ideology*
Authorities say the man who detonated a car bomb outside a California fertility clinic last Saturday appears to have been motivated by anti-natalist ideology — the belief that no one should have children.
The attack destroyed the office spaces of the American Reproductive Center in Palm Springs, an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic, but the bombing did not destroy the stored embryos.
IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and implant them in the mother’s womb. To maximize efficiency, doctors create excess human embryos and routinely destroy undesired embryos.
The suspect, Guy Edward Bartkus, likely detonated the bomb in what law enforcement is calling an act of domestic terrorism. Bartkus was killed by the detonation, but no one else was killed as the center was empty during the time of the explosion.
The FBI reportedly found possible links between the suspect and an online forum post in which he contemplated suicide via an explosive device, as well as a YouTube account with a history of videos of homemade explosives. Authorities say they are investigating the suspect’s “manifesto,” which reportedly contained the anti-natalist ideology known as “Efilism.”
*Abortions continue to rise after Dobbs, report confirms *
More than 1.1 million abortions took place from July 2023 to June 2024, according to a recent Charlotte Lozier Institute report compiling available abortion data.
In a first-of-its-kind report, the analysis compiles abortion totals from various abortionists and other data. Because there is no federal abortion reporting requirement, abortion totals are not definitive, the report noted. The report also found that “thousands upon thousands” of self-managed chemical abortions occur outside the health care system.
The report found that there are more than 770 abortion centers as well as mail-order abortion drugs being made available through 142 U.S.-based organizations and eight websites operating outside the U.S. health care system. Most abortions happen inside a woman’s home, though out-of-state abortions are on the rise, increasing by 126% from 2020 to 2023, according to the report.
*Hundreds of pro-life Oregonians gather for March for Life*
Hundreds of Oregonians gathered outside the state Capitol in Salem, Oregon, on May 17 for the annual Oregon March for Life.
This year’s theme — “Support Her. Protect Them” — is designed to “emphasize the pro-life movement’s care for both mothers and their babies,” according to organizers. On display at the event was an animated counter depicting the impact of abortion: 63 million lives lost.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, who was one of several pro-life voices speaking at the event, said: “It never ceases to have a deep impact on me when we see, visually, the real impact that the tragedy of abortion has had in our country.”
Other pro-life leaders and legislators spoke at the event, including Oregon Right to Life President Melody Durrett, Western Seminary theology professor Gerry Breshears, and Oregon Republican Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson.
Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson called the gathering “deeply inspiring and encouraging,” noting that the March for Life “always renews my sense of optimism for ending abortion and building a culture of life in our state.”
The event is held in May to mark the month that Oregon legalized abortion statewide in 1969. Abortions are legal during all nine months of pregnancy in Oregon, and taxpayer funding contributes to more than half of abortions performed in the state, according to Oregon Right to Life.
*Judge strikes down regulation requiring employers to accommodate abortions *
A Louisiana federal judge struck down a Biden-era regulation on Wednesday that required employers to accommodate employees’ abortions.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation in question included abortion under pregnancy-related conditions that employers are required to accommodate under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana ruled that in its enforcement of that law, the EEOC had overstepped its bounds by including abortion in the category of pregnancy-related conditions.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires most employers to accommodate workers’ limitations due to pregnancy and childbirth. In 2024, the EEOC determined that these protections included abortion. In response, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi and four Catholic organizations challenged the rule.
*U.S. House moves to repeal FACE Act *
The U.S. House of Representatives is taking steps to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a law allegedly weaponized against pro-life activists under the Biden administration.
The House Judiciary Committee held a markup of a series of bills, including the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025, on Wednesday.
The FACE Act, which has been federal law for 30 years, imposes harsher prison sentences for people who obstruct access to abortion clinics or pro-life pregnancy resource centers. However, under President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, the law was almost exclusively used to convict pro-life demonstrators. Using the FACE Act, dozens of pro-life activists were imprisoned for blocking clinic entrances during protests and other forms of protest.
Texas Congressman Chip Roy, who has previously worked to repeal the FACE Act, introduced the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025 in January. The FACE Act has also been used against pro-abortion activists who defaced life-affirming clinics.
*Florida court strikes down law promoting abortion access for minors *
A Florida appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a law that lets minors get abortions without their parents’ consent was unconstitutional. The court found that the state’s judicial waiver law violated the 14th Amendment right to due process for parents. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal cited parental rights laws as well as a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court and the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
