🔗 Share this article The Targeting of Childbirth: The Making of Women and Babies into Casualties in Worldwide Wars. A group of thirty mothers had taken refuge in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Several had recently given birth, while others were actively in labor. Present at the hospital after dark, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, lived to tell the tale. “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 brutal attack stands as a particularly egregious examples in the two-year civil 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 collapse in safety for civilians caught in conflict zones in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan. A Record of Violence Against Maternal Care Despite every significant nation have signed the Geneva conventions, which commit them to defending civilians, the past year has seen a record number of attacks on healthcare systems. Expectant mothers are highly exposed due to their dependence on locally available medical care. An investigation of records show an shocking trend: nearly 300 incidents targeting or hindering maternity care facilities, staff, and pregnant women over the last three years, including at least 119 targeted attacks against hospitals and delivery wards. “This is not inevitable outcomes of conflict. They form a systematic assault on childbirth.” The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded. Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or made to have their babies in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 maternal health workers have been murdered, 15 taken hostage, and 101 detained—sometimes during medical procedures. A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns The numbers are probably a significant underestimate, as they are limited to incidents covered by the media. In many areas of fighting, reporting is limited. Last year, it was reported that half of all women who perished while pregnant or giving birth were in a conflict area. This underscores a devastating pattern. In addition to the loss of life, these attacks are wrecking critical infrastructure for mothers and babies, posing a long-term threat to demographic stability. The Situation in Gaza In Gaza, the devastating effect on the right to maternal care has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind accusations of genocidal acts. Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children are still perishing from inadequate care, owing to severe deficits of medicine and equipment. UN officials have relayed women delivering babies amidst ruins because hospitals were out of reach. “We’ve had rockets hitting 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 trying to alter birthrates. Ukraine's Ordeal Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been struck and ruined 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,” claims the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Russian authorities have denied deliberately targeting civilians. “In fact, every facility faces the threat of assault,” 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 even fewer war crimes prosecutions for those assaulting reproductive health. This lack of accountability has led to a “environment where anything goes,” argues a human rights lawyer. “Violence targeting childbirth, 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 increasing drastically, 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 hit a neonatal ward, resulting in tragic loss of life. In Myanmar, medical facilities have been bombed 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 Most maternal deaths are avoidable with standard medicine, but war collapses medical infrastructure. Rights groups note that terror is compelling women away from facilities once considered safe, leading them to risky home births devoid of emergency care. “When childbirth centers become intentional targets speaks to a wider and more disturbing trend: the use of attacks on medical facilities as a tool for terror and to tear apart the social fabric,” says a legal researcher. “Hospitals are not completely safe for hospitals in war. Under the Geneva conventions, medical facilities can lose their protected status if used for acts deemed ‘militarily advantageous’, which has increasingly been used as a justification.”