Thirty women were huddled for safety in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Some had just delivered their newborns, while others were actively in labor.
Working that night, a 28-year-old lab technician, Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, lived to tell the tale. “The sounds of screaming reached me of women and children,” he explains. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.”
This brutal attack stands as a particularly egregious examples in the two-year civil war tearing the North African nation apart. Militiamen forced their way into the building, reportedly killing 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 several nations at war.
An Unprecedented Assault On Childbirth Services
Despite every significant nation have signed the international laws of war, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of assaults against medical infrastructure. Women undergoing childbirth are exceptionally vulnerable due to their reliance on locally available medical care.
Research and compiled data show an shocking trend: nearly 300 incidents targeting or hindering places and people associated with childbirth over the last three years, including at least 119 direct strikes on hospitals and delivery wards.
“This is not standard wartime hazards. They form a systematic assault on childbirth.”
The majority of these assaults have occurred in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded.
Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or made to have their babies in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 midwives, obstetricians, and gynaecologists have been slain, 15 kidnapped, and 101 detained—sometimes while assisting births.
The Global Crisis for Mothers and Newborns
The numbers are probably a substantial underreporting, as they capture solely incidents reported in news outlets. In many war-torn areas, reporting is limited.
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 devastating pattern.
Beyond killing women and staff, these attacks are destroying hospitals and wards, creating a grave danger to societal repopulation and recovery.
The Situation in Gaza
In Gaza, the devastating effect on reproductive health rights 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 continue to die from a lack of proper treatment, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Agencies have reported women giving birth in rubble because hospitals were inaccessible.
“Direct shelling targeting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” states the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has contested deliberately targeting maternity care or aiming to influence birthrates.
The Crisis in Ukraine
Since early 2022, at least 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births taking place in basements and skyrocketing stress leading to problems during delivery.
“Russia is targeting us deliberately,” says the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. The government has disputed deliberately targeting civilians.
“The reality is, every facility faces the threat of assault,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “If a drone is destroyed, the falling debris could impact a hospital.”
Accountability Evaporates
For the more than 676 million women living near active conflicts, there are scarce guarantees and rare trials for atrocities for those attacking childbirth services.
This lack of accountability has created a “culture of impunity,” explains a human rights lawyer. “Violence targeting childbirth, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, may constitute acts of genocide by destroying a group's future.”
Additional Hotspots
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, killing mothers, babies, and nurses.
In Myanmar, hospitals have come under fire and dozens of midwives and patients have been arrested, killed, or injured over the past two years of civil war.
The End of Safe Deliveries
Most maternal deaths are preventable with routine care, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, leading them to risky home births devoid of emergency care.
“The deliberate attack on maternity wards points toward a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of attacks on medical facilities as a weapon to spread fear and to break societal cohesion,” says a legal researcher.
“Hospitals are not completely safe for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities may forfeit their immunity if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has now become a standard defence.”
