Etymology
The word antinatalism comes from a combination of the words anti, whose Greek origin is “opposed to, against, opposite of”; and natalis, from the Latin pertaining to birth or origin, and natus the Latin verb to be born.
Antinatalism is a philosophical position that opposes birth. As Heinrich Heine, the 19th-century German poet wrote, “Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, the best thing would to have never been born at all”. It’s important that we compare and contrast antinatalism from voluntary childlessness. It’s also important that we differentiate between Local Antinatalism and Global Antinatalism. Local Antinatalists ‘oppose birth in particular cases or under certain circumstances.’ Whereas global antinatalists oppose birth by all parents.
INCREASING VOLUNTARY CHILDLESSNESS
Increasing Voluntary Childlessness
Why have we seen such a decrease in childbirth in the last 50 years?
We’ve seen this for many reasons. One of the primary factors is the increase in women’s education. All over the world, we see a consistent trend - as women’s education increases, fertility rates decrease. But, of course, there are several other factors:
Women’s education (most important factor)
Lifestyle impediment of parenthood
Women’s empowerment in the workplace
Availability of contraceptives
Urban living
Survival less dependent on family
Decline of religion
Declining child mortality
The Rising cost of childrearing
Decreasing Fertility Rates
Since the 1960s, total global fertility rates have been cut in half. This is coming from the World Bank. This reduction is predominantly due to Voluntary Childlessness.
Antinatalism is a philosophical position
As compared to to voluntary childlessness, antinatalism is not a lifestyle choice, but a philosophical position contending that procreation is morally wrong. Some antinatalists argue that this applies to all humans. Others argue that this applies to all non-human sentient beings as well. Antinatalists are not necessarily promortalists.
THE VOLUNTARY HUMAN EXTINCTION MOVEMENT
In 1991, the Voluntary human extinction movement was formed, encouraging people to stop having children, primarily for environmental purposes. Their motto? “Live long and die out”
It’s also important that we differentiate antinatalism from promortalism. Promortalism is a philosophical position and social movement that assigns a positive value to death. (i.e. Promortalists believe that the morally best thing to do would be to end suffering by ending our own lives. Promortalists say that the only thing that keeps most of them from killing themselves is the lack of willpower).
PROMORTALISM
It’s also important that we differentiate antinatalism from promortalism. Promortalism is a philosophical position and social movement that assigns a positive value to death. In other words, promortalists believe that the morally best thing to do would be to end suffering by ending our own lives. Promortalists say that the only thing that keeps most of them from killing themselves is the lack of willpower.
Summary
Arguments for Antinatalism