Thirty women were seeking shelter in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, as the slaughter began. Some had just delivered their newborns, while others were actively in labor.
On duty during that fateful night, a 28-year-old lab technician, Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, lived to tell the tale. “There were cries of women and children,” he states. “They executed everybody inside the hospital. Those who could run, fled.”
This brutal attack stands as one of the most shocking examples in the protracted internal conflict tearing the African nation apart. Combatants stormed the facility, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 innocent people inside.
Rights organizations have described it as “an unspeakable atrocity,” and a prime example of the deteriorating protection for civilians living amidst warfare in multiple global hotspots.
An Unprecedented Assault Against Maternal Care
Despite every significant nation have agreed to the international laws of war, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has experienced a historic high of assaults against medical infrastructure. Mothers in labor are exceptionally vulnerable due to their dependence on locally available medical care.
Data analysis and investigations uncover an unprecedented scale of attacks: 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 incidents do not represent inevitable outcomes of conflict. They constitute a deliberate strategy of violence against reproduction.”
The majority of these incidents have happened in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded.
Women have been killed, prevented from accessing care, or made to have their babies in deplorable situations. The data also indicates that at least 68 childbirth professionals and specialists have been killed, 15 abducted, and 101 taken into custody—sometimes while assisting births.
A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns
Statistics are thought to be a significant underestimate, as they are limited to incidents reported in news outlets. In many areas of fighting, communications are sparse.
Last year, analysis showed that one in two mothers who lost their lives in maternal circumstances lived amidst hostilities. This underscores a horrifying trend.
In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are wrecking maternal and neonatal care facilities, jeopardizing the future to community survival.
Conditions within Gaza
In Gaza, the ruinous consequences 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 succumb from medical shortages, owing to desperate lacks of medicine and equipment. UN officials have relayed women having children by the roadside because hospitals could not be reached.
“Our facility has endured missile strikes 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 aiming to influence birthrates.
Ukraine's Ordeal
Since early 2022, at least 80 hospitals for mothers and babies have been struck and ruined in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births taking place in basements and extreme psychological pressure leading to birth complications.
“Russia is targeting us deliberately,” claims the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Officials from Russia have rejected deliberately targeting civilians.
“In fact, every facility faces the threat of assault,” states a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, the falling debris can strike a hospital.”
Accountability Evaporates
For the more than 676 million women living within range of fighting, there are scarce guarantees and a stark lack of legal accountability for those attacking childbirth services.
This absence of consequences has fostered a “culture of impunity,” says a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like forced pregnancy or forced sterilisation, may constitute acts of genocide by hindering reproduction.”
Other Conflict Zones
In El Fasher, the area was isolated from 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 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 faced detention, death, or harm over the past two years of civil war.
The Collapse of Safe Childbirth
A large proportion of mother deaths are averted with basic healthcare, but war collapses medical infrastructure. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, resulting in risky home births without skilled assistance.
“The deliberate attack on maternity wards points toward a wider and more disturbing trend: the use of violence against hospitals as a weapon to spread fear 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 are not inviolable if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has increasingly been used as a justification.”
