Becoming a parent is a huge decision for anybody. It’s a completely life-changing event that brings joy and pride to an entire family—unless you follow the beliefs of Raphael Samuel, who is suing his parents for giving birth to him.

Raphael is a anti-natalist, someone who believes that humans should stop procreating immediately in order to improve the world. His main claim in his court case is that his parents never asked for his consent to be born.

“There’s no point to humanity. So many people are suffering. If humanity is extinct, Earth and animals would be happier. They’ll certainly be better off. Also no human will then suffer. Human existence is totally pointless.” said Samuel in an interview with the BBC. “I wish I was not born. But it’s not that I’m unhappy in my life. My life is good, but I’d rather not be here. You know it’s like there’s a nice room, but I don’t want to be in that room.”

“Is his mental state ok? It sounds like he’s depressed,” said Cora Fogel a senior at WHHS, “I would take it as a joke. It’s ridiculous to sue your parents for conceiving you. I don’t think you can even ask a baby in the womb if it would like to be born or not.”

His mother, Kavita Karnad Samuel, believes that his message has been misinterpreted. “His belief in anti-natalism, his concern for the burden on Earth’s resources due to needless life, his sensitivity toward the pain experienced unwittingly by children while growing up and so much more has been ruefully forgotten. I’m very happy that my son has grown up into a fearless, independent-thinking young man. He is sure to find his path to happiness.”

She and her husband are lawyers and are very willing to take the case to court. “I must admire my son’s temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers. And if Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault.”

“There are two issues here, one is a moral one and the other is a legal one.” said Joseph Fleissner, an english teacher at WHHS, “ The moral issue is that there is no guarantee that the child may be born it’s mainly from happenstance. The legal issue is how could you get consent from someone who does not yet exist? It is literally impossible.”

Samuel has a Facebook page named Nihilanand where he spreads his ideas of anti-natalism to whoever will listen. Posts include images with captions such as, “Your parents had you instead of a toy or a dog, you owe them nothing, you are their entertainment.”

“I’m speechless right now that this is actually going on.” said Christina Caamano, an english teacher at WHHS. “It’s absurd. I don’t even know what to say.”

 Samuel as of yet has not found a lawyer who will take his case, although he could’ve been expecting this, “I know it’s going to be thrown out because no judge would hear it. But I do want to file a case because I want to make a point.”

Will his case ever be seen in court? We don’t know. However, his message and thoughts have been spread around the globe, and will be a discussion point for activists for the time being.