🔗 Share this article Childbirth Under Attack: How Women and Babies Became Casualties in Worldwide Wars. A group of thirty mothers were huddled for safety in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Several had recently given birth, while others were in the midst of labor. Present at the hospital after dark, a 28-year-old lab technician, Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, managed to survive the ordeal. “The sounds of screaming reached me of women and children,” he recounts. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.” This appalling incident stands as one of the most shocking examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Militiamen raided the hospital, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 individuals receiving care and their families. Rights organizations have described it as “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a prime example of the deteriorating protection for civilians caught in conflict zones in multiple global hotspots. An Unprecedented Assault Against Maternal Care While all major powers are signatories to the international laws of war, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has experienced a historic high of violence targeting health services. Women undergoing childbirth are highly exposed due to their reliance on locally available medical care. Research and compiled data reveal an shocking trend: nearly 300 violent acts against 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 inevitable outcomes of conflict. They represent a deliberate strategy of violence against reproduction.” The majority of these attacks have taken place in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of pregnant women are trapped. Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or compelled to deliver in deplorable situations. The data also indicates that at least 68 maternal health workers have been murdered, 15 taken hostage, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures. The Global Crisis in Maternal Health The numbers are probably a significant underestimate, as they capture solely incidents covered by the media. In many conflict zones, reporting is limited. Last year, analysis showed that 50% of women who lost their lives in maternal circumstances resided in a war zone. This underscores a horrifying trend. In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are obliterating hospitals and wards, creating a grave danger to societal repopulation and recovery. The Situation in Gaza In Gaza, the ruinous consequences on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as a factor in genocide allegations. Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children continue to die from medical shortages, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. Agencies have reported women giving birth in rubble because hospitals could not be reached. “Our facility has endured missile strikes fired at the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” says the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has contested deliberately targeting maternity care or aiming to influence birthrates. Ukraine's Ordeal Since early 2022, at least 80 hospitals for mothers and babies have been struck and ruined in Ukraine. Accounts from embattled medical centers describe births taking place in basements and extreme psychological pressure leading to birth complications. “The attacks on us are intentional,” asserts the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Officials from Russia have rejected deliberately targeting civilians. “The reality is, every facility can be under attack now,” states a medical director in Sumy. “If a drone is destroyed, the falling debris could impact a hospital.” A Culture of Impunity For the hundreds of millions of women living near active conflicts, there are minimal protections and even fewer war crimes prosecutions for those targeting maternity care. This void of justice has created a “atmosphere of lawlessness,” says a human rights lawyer. “Assaults against maternal services, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, can be understood as acts of genocide by destroying a group's future.” Other Conflict Zones In El Fasher, the area lacked access to 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 limited by a inability to report from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma damaged a maternity hospital, killing mothers, babies, and nurses. In Myanmar, hospitals have come under fire and dozens of midwives and patients have suffered violence over the past two years of civil war. The Collapse of Safe Childbirth The majority of childbirth fatalities are avoidable with standard medicine, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births without skilled assistance. “When childbirth centers become intentional targets speaks to a wider and more disturbing trend: the use of attacks on medical facilities as a weapon to spread fear and to tear apart the social fabric,” notes a legal researcher. “There is no absolute protection for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities may forfeit their immunity if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”