What is antinatalism? The movement against children, explained

Sukenick grew up hearing stories of genocide from her father, a Jewish oil painter, and her mother, an Armenian Jungian psychoanalyst.

“I’ve thought a lot about war and how conflicts cannot be resolved if we keep creating new people,” she says.

In 2010, Sukenick began watching YouTube videos about antinatalism. Finding the platform was “a dream come true,” she says. Sukenick is happily childless, hosts “The Exploring Antinatalism Podcast” and is co-author of the book “Antinatalism, Extinction, and the End of Procreative Self-Corruption” with Matti Häyry.

Sukenick believes that all sentient life – humans and animals – should become extinct.

“If it were possible to unplug the universe so that there was nothing – and no possibility of suffering – that would be a great time and a perfect solution for me,” she says.

Some antinatalists advocate the voluntary extinction of humanity for environmental reasons, but environmental protection is not the core of this movement.

“The main reason … has less to do with conserving resources than with freeing the rest of sentient life — which is suffering greatly because of humanity — from us,” says Sukenick. “When we go extinct, they're free, and … animals, nature, and the planet will thrive without humanity in ways we can't even imagine today.”

Kurt Gray, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, believes that antinatalism is an “extreme” position among people whose hearts are in the right place from the start.

“Moral decisions are based on preventing harm and protecting ourselves or society,” Gray tells TODAY.com. “Antinatalists care about that, but when there are no more children … there's no one to protect … To a lot of people, that seems like a strange philosophy. It's throwing the baby out with the bathwater — literally.”

When antinatalists become grandparents

While most antinatalists realize that human extinction is unlikely this year, if they can prevent even one birth, they believe it is worth the effort.

For antinatalist parents – and that includes their future grandchildren – the idea is disturbing.

“When someone says they're going to be a grandparent, I'm not happy,” says Mark. “I think about the unnecessary suffering that a child will have to endure.”

Although Mark says babies are “beautiful” and he is happy for the new parents, his first thought when he hears about a pregnancy or the birth of a child is, “It’s a shame and a pity.”

Mark says he will be “sad” when his daughter has children one day, but he will make the most of his role, saying: “I will love spending time with my grandchildren and being the best grandpa I can be.”

For Ciani, becoming a grandmother would be another heartbreaking step.

“It will be my children's decision and I will have to live with it,” she says, “but I would blame myself.”

Ciani admits that “worse things can happen” than grandparenthood, but she would need time to get used to it.

“If I live to see this,” says Ciani, “I think I will be a loving grandmother.”