🔗 Share this article Childbirth Under Attack: How Women and Babies Became Targets in Global Conflicts. A group of thirty mothers were huddled for safety 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. Working that night, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, lived to tell the tale. “There were cries of women and children,” he states. “A massacre was taking place inside the hospital. Survival meant running for your life.” This brutal attack stands as one of the most shocking examples in the ongoing war tearing the North African nation apart. Militiamen forced their way into the building, leaving dead more than 460 patients and their companions. Rights organizations have described it as “an act of unspeakable brutality,” and a prime example of the collapse in safety for civilians living amidst warfare in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan. A Record of Violence On Childbirth Services While all major powers have signed the international laws of war, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has experienced a historic high of violence targeting health services. Expectant mothers are highly exposed due to their dependence on locally available medical care. Data analysis and investigations reveal an alarming level of violence: 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. “These incidents do not represent natural consequences of war. They form a systematic assault on childbirth.” The majority of these incidents have happened in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded. Mothers have lost their lives, blocked from reaching help, or made to have their babies in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been slain, 15 kidnapped, and 101 arrested—sometimes during medical procedures. A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns These figures likely represent a grave undercount, as they capture solely incidents documented publicly. In many conflict zones, reporting is limited. Last year, analysis showed that one in two mothers who died during pregnancy or childbirth were in a conflict area. This underscores a devastating pattern. In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are obliterating maternal and neonatal care facilities, creating a grave danger to societal repopulation and recovery. The Situation in Gaza In Gaza, the ruinous consequences on reproductive health rights has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind declaring certain actions a genocide. Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children continue to die from inadequate care, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Agencies have reported women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals were out of reach. “Our facility has endured missile strikes hitting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” states the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has rejected deliberately targeting maternity care or trying to alter birthrates. Ukraine's Ordeal Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been attacked and rendered unusable in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births occurring in shelters and extreme psychological pressure leading to maternal health issues. “Russia is targeting us deliberately,” asserts the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. The government has disputed deliberately targeting civilians. “The truth of the matter is, every facility is now a potential target,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “Even if air defence intercepts a drone, the falling debris can strike a hospital.” A Culture of Impunity For the hundreds of millions of women living within range of fighting, there are few safeguards and rare trials for atrocities for those assaulting reproductive health. This void of justice has fostered a “atmosphere of lawlessness,” argues a human rights lawyer. “Violence targeting childbirth, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, may constitute acts of genocide by hindering reproduction.” Additional Hotspots In El Fasher, the area had been cut off from humanitarian aid long before the hospital attack, with malnutrition increasing drastically, especially among children and pregnant women. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, information is restricted due to a inability to report from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma hit a neonatal ward, killing mothers, babies, and nurses. In Myanmar, clinics have been attacked and dozens of midwives and patients have faced detention, death, or harm over the past two years of civil war. The End of Safe Deliveries Most maternal deaths are avoidable with standard medicine, but war shatters health systems. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births lacking professional help. “When childbirth centers become intentional targets indicates a wider and more disturbing trend: the use of violence against hospitals as a weapon to spread fear and to break societal cohesion,” 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 now become a standard defence.”