Childbirth Under Attack: How Women and Babies Became Casualties in Worldwide Wars.

Dozens of women had taken refuge 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, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, became one of the few known survivors. “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 one of the most shocking examples in the protracted internal conflict tearing the African nation apart. Combatants raided the hospital, leaving dead more than 460 innocent people inside.

Rights organizations have called it “a crime beyond words,” and a clear case of the deteriorating protection for civilians caught in conflict zones in several nations at war.

A Record of Violence On Childbirth Services

Although world powers are signatories to the international laws of war, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has experienced a historic high of attacks on healthcare systems. Women undergoing childbirth are particularly at risk due to their need for locally available medical care.

Data analysis and investigations 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.

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

The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded.

Mothers have lost their lives, prevented from accessing care, 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 killed, 15 abducted, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures.

A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns

These figures likely represent a substantial underreporting, as they only include incidents reported in news outlets. In many war-torn areas, communications are sparse.

Last year, findings indicated that half of all women who perished while pregnant or giving birth resided in a war zone. This underscores a horrifying trend.

Beyond killing women and staff, these attacks are wrecking maternal and neonatal care facilities, creating a grave danger to community survival.

The Situation in Gaza

In Gaza, the devastating effect on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind genocide allegations.

Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children continue to die from a lack of proper treatment, owing to severe deficits of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women having children by the roadside because hospitals could not be reached.

“We’ve had rockets targeting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” explains 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 hospitals for mothers and babies have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births forced underground and extreme psychological pressure 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 reality is, every facility can be under attack now,” notes 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 over half a billion females living within range of fighting, there are minimal protections and rare trials for atrocities for those targeting maternity care.

This void of justice has led to a “atmosphere of lawlessness,” says a human rights lawyer. “Assaults against maternal services, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, are potentially acts of genocide by preventing births.”

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 lack of access from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma struck a baby care unit, 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 avoidable with standard medicine, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that anxiety is forcing women away from facilities once considered safe, pushing them toward risky home births lacking professional help.

“When childbirth centers become intentional targets points toward a larger and alarming strategy: the use of violence against hospitals as a means of intimidation and to tear apart the social fabric,” notes a legal researcher.

“Safeguards are not guaranteed for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities are not inviolable if used for acts deemed ‘prejudicial to the opposing side’, which has now become a standard defence.”