Childbirth Under Attack: How Women and Babies Became Targets in Global Conflicts.

A group of thirty mothers had taken refuge in a maternity hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, as the slaughter began. 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, became one of the few known survivors. “The sounds of screaming reached me of women and children,” he recounts. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Survival meant running for your life.”

This appalling incident stands as among the worst examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Militiamen forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 patients and their companions.

Rights organizations have labeled it “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a prime example of the deteriorating protection for civilians living amidst warfare in several nations at war.

An Unprecedented Assault Against Maternal Care

Although world powers have agreed to the Geneva conventions, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of assaults against medical infrastructure. Mothers in labor are highly exposed due to their need for locally available medical care.

An investigation of records reveal an alarming level of violence: 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.

“These are not standard wartime hazards. They form a systematic assault on childbirth.”

The majority of these attacks have taken place in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where countless of women bearing children are confined.

Deaths have occurred, blocked from reaching help, or made to have their babies in perilous and unsafe environments. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been slain, 15 abducted, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures.

The Global Crisis for Mothers and Newborns

The numbers are probably a grave undercount, as they only include incidents documented publicly. In many areas of fighting, communications are sparse.

Last year, findings indicated that one in two mothers who perished while pregnant or giving birth were in a conflict area. This underscores a catastrophic reality.

Beyond killing women and staff, these attacks are destroying critical infrastructure for mothers and babies, creating a grave danger to demographic stability.

Conditions within Gaza

In Gaza, the catastrophic impact 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 are still perishing from inadequate care, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals were out of reach.

“Our facility has endured missile strikes 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 trying to alter birthrates.

The Crisis in Ukraine

Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been attacked and rendered unusable in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births forced underground and skyrocketing stress leading to maternal health issues.

“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.

“The truth of the matter is, every facility can be under attack now,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “Even if air defence intercepts a drone, the falling debris may hit a hospital.”

A Culture of Impunity

For the over half a billion females living within range of fighting, there are minimal protections and a stark lack of legal accountability for those assaulting reproductive health.

This lack of accountability has led to a “culture of impunity,” explains 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 had been cut off from humanitarian aid long before the hospital attack, with malnutrition spiking dangerously, 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 struck a baby care unit, causing fatalities among patients and staff.

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 End of Safe Deliveries

A large proportion of mother deaths are avoidable with standard medicine, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that fear is now driving women away from facilities once considered safe, leading them to risky home births devoid of emergency care.

“The deliberate attack on maternity wards speaks to a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of violence against hospitals as a means of intimidation and to tear apart the social fabric,” observes a legal researcher.

“There is no absolute protection for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities are not inviolable if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has now become a standard defence.”