The man who bombed a California fertility clinic last week, taking his own life and injuring four others, appears to have been motivated by an ultra-extreme anti-birth ideology which thinks humans are a blight upon the planet, according to police.

Dubbed ‘efil-ism’ — “life” spelled backwards — supporters of the philosophy argue that people should not have children in order to bring the human race to extinction.

In an online manifesto attributed to him, the bomber dubbed his views “pro-mortalism.”

“All a promortalist is saying is let’s make it happen sooner rather than later (and preferably peaceful rather than some disease or accident), to prevent your future suffering, and, more importantly, the suffering your existence will cause to all the other sentient beings, . . . The end goal is for the truth (Efilism) to win, and once it does, we can finally begin the process of sterilizing this planet of the disease of life.”

Anti-natalists oppose procreation for a variety of reasons. Some believe humans are unfairly born without consent into a life of suffering, while others cite global overpopulation and concerns about climate change.

While it is a fringe philosophy, circulating primarily among a small group of online adherents, that opposes human life in every form, a more academic version of the philosophy called anti-natalism is primarily associated with the South African philosopher David Benatar, who has written extensively on the thesis.