The Targeting of Childbirth: How Women and Babies Became Casualties in Worldwide Wars.

A group of thirty mothers 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 experiencing childbirth.

Working that night, 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 states. “A massacre was taking place inside the hospital. We who were able to escape, did so.”

This appalling incident stands as one of the most shocking examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Militiamen stormed the facility, reportedly killing more than 460 innocent people inside.

Rights organizations have labeled it “a crime beyond words,” and a stark illustration of the collapse in safety for civilians living amidst warfare in several nations at war.

An Unprecedented Assault On Childbirth Services

Despite every significant nation are signatories to the international laws of war, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of violence targeting health services. Women undergoing childbirth are exceptionally vulnerable due to their reliance on locally available medical care.

Data analysis and investigations uncover 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 targeted attacks against hospitals and delivery wards.

“These incidents do not represent natural consequences of war. They form a systematic assault on childbirth.”

The majority of these attacks have taken place in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where a vast number of expectant mothers are stranded.

Mothers have lost their lives, prevented from accessing care, or compelled to deliver in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been murdered, 15 taken hostage, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures.

A Worldwide Emergency in Maternal Health

Statistics are thought to be a significant underestimate, as they capture solely incidents covered by the media. In many war-torn areas, communications are sparse.

Last year, it was reported that one in two mothers who died during pregnancy or childbirth lived amidst hostilities. This underscores a horrifying trend.

Apart from fatalities, these attacks are wrecking critical infrastructure for mothers and babies, 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 part of the basis for declaring certain actions a genocide.

Despite periods of calm, doctors report that women and children succumb from inadequate care, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women giving birth in rubble because hospitals could not be reached.

“Our facility has endured missile strikes hitting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” explains the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has denied deliberately targeting maternity care or seeking to affect birthrates.

The Crisis in Ukraine

Since early 2022, at least 80 hospitals for mothers and babies have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births occurring in shelters and extreme psychological pressure leading to maternal health issues.

“We are being singled out,” asserts 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 is now a potential target,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, the falling debris could impact a hospital.”

Accountability Evaporates

For the over half a billion females living near active conflicts, there are scarce guarantees and rare trials for atrocities for those assaulting reproductive health.

This void of justice has led to a “environment where anything goes,” says a human rights lawyer. “Violence targeting childbirth, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, may constitute acts of genocide by preventing births.”

Additional Hotspots

In El Fasher, the area lacked access to 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 damaged a maternity hospital, 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 End of Safe Deliveries

Most maternal deaths are preventable with routine care, but war destroys healthcare networks. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births lacking professional help.

“The deliberate attack on maternity wards speaks to a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of attacks on medical facilities as a tool for terror and to destroy community bonds,” observes a legal researcher.

“Hospitals are not completely safe for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities are not inviolable if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”