A group of thirty mothers had taken refuge in a maternity hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, as the slaughter began. Some had just delivered their newborns, while others were actively in labor.
Working that night, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, lived to tell the tale. “I heard the screams of women and children,” he states. “They were killing everyone inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.”
This brutal attack stands as a particularly egregious examples in the ongoing war tearing the North African nation apart. Armed soldiers forced their way into the building, reportedly killing more than 460 innocent people inside.
Rights organizations have described it as “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a prime example of the vanishing safeguards for civilians caught in conflict zones in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan.
An Unprecedented Assault Against Maternal Care
Although world powers have signed the Geneva conventions, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has seen a record number of attacks on healthcare systems. Mothers in labor are highly exposed due to their reliance on locally available medical care.
Research and compiled data show 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 incidents do not represent natural consequences of war. They represent a pattern of reproductive violence.”
The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of women bearing children are confined.
Mothers have lost their lives, blocked from reaching help, or compelled to deliver in perilous and unsafe environments. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been killed, 15 kidnapped, and 101 arrested—sometimes while assisting births.
The Global Crisis in Maternal Health
Statistics are thought to be a significant underestimate, as they capture solely incidents reported in news outlets. In many areas of fighting, reporting is limited.
Last year, it was reported that 50% of women who perished while pregnant or giving birth resided in a war zone. This underscores a horrifying trend.
In addition to the loss of life, 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.
Following truces, doctors report that women and children continue to die from medical shortages, owing to severe deficits of medicine and equipment. Agencies have reported women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals were inaccessible.
“Direct shelling targeting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” states 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 childbirth centers have been struck and ruined in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births forced underground 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. Russian authorities have denied deliberately targeting civilians.
“The reality is, every facility is now a potential target,” states a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, 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 attacking childbirth services.
This lack of accountability has led to a “culture of impunity,” says a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, can be understood as acts of genocide by destroying a group's future.”
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 scarce because of a communication blackout from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma struck a baby care unit, killing mothers, babies, and nurses.
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 shatters health systems. Rights groups note that fear is now driving women away from facilities once considered safe, pushing them toward risky home births without skilled assistance.
“The deliberate attack on maternity wards points toward a larger and alarming strategy: the use of violence against hospitals as a tool for terror and to tear apart the social fabric,” 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 ‘prejudicial to the opposing side’, which has now become a standard defence.”
