Thirty women were huddled for safety in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, as the slaughter began. Among them were new mothers, 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, lived to tell the tale. “I heard the screams of women and children,” he explains. “A massacre was taking place inside the hospital. Survival meant running for your life.”
This horrifying event stands as one of the most shocking examples in the two-year civil war tearing the African nation apart. Combatants forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 individuals receiving care and their families.
Rights organizations have described it as “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a prime example of the deteriorating protection for civilians caught in conflict zones in multiple global hotspots.
An Unprecedented Assault On Childbirth Services
Despite every significant nation have agreed to the Geneva conventions, which obligate them to protect civilians, the past year has witnessed an unprecedented spike of attacks on healthcare systems. Expectant mothers are highly exposed due to their reliance on locally available medical care.
Research and compiled data reveal an shocking trend: nearly 300 attacks on and disruptions to places and people associated with childbirth over the last three years, including at least 119 bombardments of hospitals and delivery wards.
“These are not standard wartime hazards. They represent a systematic assault on childbirth.”
The majority of these assaults have occurred in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where a vast number of pregnant women are trapped.
Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or compelled to deliver in deplorable situations. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been killed, 15 abducted, and 101 arrested—sometimes while assisting births.
The Global Crisis for Mothers and Newborns
These figures likely represent a significant underestimate, as they capture solely incidents documented publicly. In many war-torn areas, information is scarce.
Last year, findings indicated that 50% of women who lost their lives in maternal circumstances were in a conflict area. This underscores a devastating pattern.
In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are wrecking hospitals and wards, jeopardizing the future to community survival.
The Situation in Gaza
In Gaza, the ruinous consequences on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind genocide allegations.
Following truces, doctors report that women and children succumb from inadequate care, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Agencies have reported women giving birth in rubble because hospitals were inaccessible.
“Our facility has endured missile strikes fired at 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.
Ukraine's Ordeal
Since early 2022, at least 80 hospitals for mothers and babies have been struck and ruined in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births forced underground and extreme psychological pressure leading to maternal health issues.
“We are being singled out,” says the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. The government has disputed deliberately targeting civilians.
“The truth of the matter 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 over half a billion females living close to deadly warfare, there are scarce guarantees and a stark lack of legal accountability for those attacking childbirth services.
This absence of consequences has led to a “atmosphere of lawlessness,” says a human rights lawyer. “Assaults against maternal services, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, may constitute 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 rising sharply, especially among children and pregnant women.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, information is restricted due to a inability to report from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma struck a baby care unit, causing fatalities among patients and staff.
In Myanmar, clinics have been attacked 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 avoidable with standard medicine, but war collapses medical infrastructure. Rights groups note that anxiety is forcing women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births without skilled assistance.
“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 destroy community bonds,” says 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 ‘militarily advantageous’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”
