🔗 Share this article The Targeting of Childbirth: How Women and Babies Became Casualties in Worldwide Wars. Thirty women had taken refuge in a maternity hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Among them were new mothers, while others were in the midst of labor. On duty during that fateful 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. “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 stormed the facility, reportedly killing more than 460 patients and their companions. Rights organizations have labeled it “a crime beyond words,” and a clear case of the collapse in safety for civilians living amidst warfare in several nations at war. A Record of Violence On Childbirth Services Although world powers have signed the Geneva conventions, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of assaults against medical infrastructure. Women undergoing childbirth are particularly at risk due to their reliance on locally available medical care. Data analysis and investigations uncover an unprecedented scale of attacks: 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 standard wartime hazards. They represent a systematic assault on childbirth.” The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where a vast number of expectant mothers are stranded. Deaths have occurred, blocked from reaching help, or forced to give birth in perilous and unsafe environments. The data also indicates that at least 68 midwives, obstetricians, and gynaecologists have been slain, 15 abducted, and 101 detained—sometimes while assisting births. A Worldwide Emergency in Maternal Health Statistics are thought to be a substantial underreporting, as they only include incidents reported in news outlets. In many conflict zones, communications are sparse. Last year, it was reported that one in two mothers who perished while pregnant or giving birth lived amidst hostilities. This underscores a catastrophic reality. Beyond killing women and staff, these attacks are obliterating critical infrastructure for mothers and babies, creating a grave danger to societal repopulation and recovery. The Situation in Gaza In Gaza, the catastrophic impact on reproductive health rights has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind genocide allegations. Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children are still perishing from medical shortages, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals could not be reached. “We’ve had rockets 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 aiming to influence birthrates. Ukraine's Ordeal Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births occurring in shelters and extreme psychological pressure leading to problems during delivery. “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 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 within range of fighting, there are minimal protections and a stark lack of legal accountability for those assaulting reproductive health. This void of justice has created a “environment where anything goes,” argues a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, can be understood as acts of genocide by preventing births.” Other Conflict Zones In El Fasher, the area lacked access to 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, killing mothers, babies, and nurses. In Myanmar, medical facilities have been bombed and dozens of midwives and patients have faced detention, death, or harm over the past two years of civil war. The Collapse of Safe Childbirth Most maternal deaths are averted with basic healthcare, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births devoid of emergency care. “The deliberate attack on maternity wards speaks to a larger and alarming strategy: the use of attacks on medical facilities as a weapon to spread fear and to destroy community bonds,” 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 ‘harmful to the enemy’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”