A group of thirty mothers had taken refuge in a maternity hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Some had just delivered their newborns, while others were experiencing childbirth.
Working that night, a 28-year-old lab technician, Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, became one of the few known survivors. “There were cries of women and children,” he recounts. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.”
This appalling incident stands as a particularly egregious examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Armed soldiers forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 individuals receiving care and their families.
Rights organizations have described it as “an act of unspeakable brutality,” and a clear case of the collapse in safety for civilians trapped in war-torn areas in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan.
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 experienced a historic high of attacks on healthcare systems. Expectant mothers are highly exposed due to their need for locally available medical care.
An investigation of records uncover an shocking trend: nearly 300 violent acts against places and people associated with childbirth over the last three years, including at least 119 bombardments of hospitals and delivery wards.
“This is not inevitable outcomes of conflict. They represent a pattern of reproductive violence.”
The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where a vast number of expectant mothers are stranded.
Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or compelled to deliver in perilous and unsafe environments. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been slain, 15 kidnapped, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures.
A Worldwide Emergency in Maternal Health
Statistics are thought to be a substantial underreporting, as they are limited to incidents reported in news outlets. In many areas of fighting, communications are sparse.
Last year, it was reported that 50% of women who lost their lives in maternal circumstances were in a conflict area. This underscores a catastrophic reality.
In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are wrecking hospitals and wards, jeopardizing the future to societal repopulation and recovery.
Conditions within Gaza
In Gaza, the catastrophic impact on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as part of the basis for accusations of genocidal acts.
Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children are still perishing from a lack of proper treatment, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. UN officials have relayed women having children by the roadside because hospitals were inaccessible.
“Direct shelling 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 aiming to influence birthrates.
Ukraine's Ordeal
Since early 2022, at least 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine. Accounts from embattled medical centers describe births occurring in shelters and skyrocketing stress leading to maternal health issues.
“The attacks on us are intentional,” 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 can be under attack now,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “If a drone is destroyed, the falling debris may hit a hospital.”
A Culture of Impunity
For the more than 676 million women living near active conflicts, there are few safeguards and rare trials for atrocities for those attacking childbirth services.
This absence of consequences has led to a “atmosphere of lawlessness,” says a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, may constitute acts of genocide by preventing births.”
Additional Hotspots
In El Fasher, the area was isolated 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 scarce because of a inability to report from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma damaged a maternity hospital, resulting in tragic loss of life.
In Myanmar, clinics have been attacked and dozens of midwives and patients have been arrested, killed, or injured over the past two years of civil war.
The End of Safe Deliveries
Most maternal deaths are avoidable with standard medicine, 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.
“If maternity hospitals are being deliberately targeted points toward a wider and more disturbing trend: the use of violence against hospitals as a weapon to spread fear and to break societal cohesion,” observes a legal researcher.
“Safeguards are not guaranteed for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities may forfeit their immunity if used for acts deemed ‘harmful to the enemy’, which has now become a standard defence.”
