Whether we like it or not, we have all been thrown into the long and winding expedition of existence. An expedition is typically praised for granting fond memories, creating close friendships, and providing the intoxicating experience of love. However, this journey also exposes us to the inevitability and unavoidability of pain and suffering, and the anxiety of one day leaving it all behind. Speaking with Antinatalist Lawrence Anton, I discovered that the decision not to procreate might be the most loving decision of all. 

Antinatalism is a strain of philosophical thought originating in Ancient Greece, where themes of birth negation were first unearthed by poets such as Theognis and Sophocles. These poets wrote things such as “the best thing is not to be born, and the next best thing is to return quickly to where we came from.” More recent examples of antinatalist work include Emil Cioran’s 1973 novel The Trouble Being Born and Thomas Ligotti’s 2011 novel The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. 

Talking about the benefits of antinatalism, Lawrence Anton said: “In my view, the main benefit is that you aren’t going to be creating someone else to then be liable to suffer and die. A lot of the values I think people have lead to an antinatalist conclusion if they applied it to the topic of procreation, but we are obviously raised in a society where we are not taught to think critically about procreation. 

“None of us wants to impose harm on an innocent being, but that is one of the things you do when you create someone. Many of us have a respect for things such as consent especially when it comes to putting people in a difficult situation.”

“When you create someone, you are putting them in a position where they are going to suffer and die, and they might suffer quite horribly. That is done without their consent, as a society, we generally see it as not morally permissible to take great risks on other people’s behalf.”

Telling new people you meet that you are an antinatalist can lead to a wide range of reactions from a wide range of people, Lawrence Anton said. 

“You get a whole range of reactions when you tell someone you are an antinatalist. One reaction is that you get people vehemently disagreeing and thinking you are crazy. However, the people who have that sort of reaction have not actually understood what you are saying, and they haven’t actually bothered to ask you why you believe what you believe.”

“Another really common reaction is one of interest because people aren’t taught this point of view, this point of view is not something that the average person has come across, you get a lot of people who are curious about antinatalism, and I even include in that parents and people who want children in the future. Overall, there are a lot of people out there who are open-minded enough to think about antinatalism and consider it even if they don’t end up agreeing with you.”

Although Antinatalism is widely accepted in the UK, in certain parts of the world it’s hard for antinatalists to follow their preferred lifestyle and openly express their opinions. 

Lawrence Anton said: “ In other countries, living as an antinatalist is harder due to not having access to contraception, with it being stigmatised in certain countries. It’s also very hard to get sterilised, as well as in some countries, where there is still a very strong expectation that you will reproduce and have children. I know that in more liberal countries in the UK, there is a lot more openness, but then again, it depends on your family or what region you live in but in some instances, you will have a child, and that’s the default. “