🔗 Share this article Childbirth Under Attack: How Women and Babies Became Casualties in Worldwide Wars. Dozens of women were seeking shelter in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Among them were new mothers, while others were in the midst of labor. Present at the hospital after dark, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, became one of the few known survivors. “I heard the screams of women and children,” he recounts. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.” This horrifying event stands as among the worst examples in the two-year civil war tearing the African nation apart. Armed soldiers forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 individuals receiving care and their families. Rights organizations have described it as “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a stark illustration of the collapse in safety for civilians living amidst warfare in multiple global hotspots. A Record of Violence On Childbirth Services Despite every significant nation are signatories to the international laws of war, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of violence targeting health services. Expectant mothers are exceptionally vulnerable due to their reliance on locally available medical care. Research and compiled data reveal an shocking trend: nearly 300 violent acts against maternity care facilities, staff, and pregnant women over the last three years, including at least 119 bombardments of hospitals and delivery wards. “This is not standard wartime hazards. They represent a systematic assault on childbirth.” The majority of these assaults have occurred in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded. Mothers have lost their lives, blocked from reaching help, or forced to give birth in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 maternal health workers have been killed, 15 taken hostage, and 101 taken into custody—sometimes during medical procedures. A Worldwide Emergency in Maternal Health These figures likely represent a significant underestimate, as they only include incidents documented publicly. In many war-torn areas, communications are sparse. Last year, it was reported that half of all women who lost their lives in maternal circumstances were in a conflict area. This underscores a catastrophic reality. Apart from fatalities, these attacks are obliterating hospitals and wards, posing a long-term threat to societal repopulation and recovery. The Situation in Gaza In Gaza, the catastrophic impact on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as part of the basis for accusations of genocidal acts. Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children are still perishing from inadequate care, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals were inaccessible. “Direct shelling targeting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” explains the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has rejected deliberately targeting maternity care or aiming to influence birthrates. Ukraine's Ordeal Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been attacked and rendered unusable in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births forced underground and extreme psychological pressure leading to problems during delivery. “The attacks on us are intentional,” claims the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Russian authorities have denied deliberately targeting civilians. “In fact, every facility can be under attack now,” notes a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, the falling debris could impact a hospital.” A Culture of Impunity For the over half a billion females living close to deadly warfare, there are scarce guarantees and even fewer war crimes prosecutions for those targeting maternity care. This absence of consequences has led to a “culture of impunity,” argues a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, may constitute acts of genocide by hindering reproduction.” Other Conflict Zones In El Fasher, the area was isolated from humanitarian aid long before the hospital attack, with malnutrition rising sharply, especially among children and pregnant women. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, information is scarce because of a lack of access from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma hit a neonatal ward, resulting in tragic loss of life. In Myanmar, medical facilities have been bombed and dozens of midwives and patients have suffered violence over the past two years of civil war. The Collapse of Safe Childbirth A large proportion of mother deaths are preventable with routine care, but war shatters health systems. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, leading them to risky home births devoid of emergency care. “If maternity hospitals are being deliberately targeted speaks to a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of violence against hospitals as a tool for terror and to tear apart the social fabric,” notes a legal researcher. “Hospitals are not completely safe for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities can lose their protected status if used for acts deemed ‘harmful to the enemy’, which has now become a standard defence.”