Dozens of women were huddled for safety in a maternity hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, at the onset of the horrific violence. Among them were new mothers, while others were in the midst of labor.
Working that night, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, became one of the few known survivors. “I heard the screams of women and children,” he states. “They executed everybody inside the hospital. We who were able to escape, did so.”
This brutal attack stands as among the worst examples in the two-year civil 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 “a crime beyond words,” and a stark illustration of the deteriorating protection for civilians caught in conflict zones in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan.
A Record of Violence On Childbirth Services
Despite every significant nation have agreed to the international laws of war, which obligate them to protect civilians, the past year has experienced a historic high of attacks on healthcare systems. Mothers in labor are exceptionally vulnerable due to their dependence on locally available medical care.
Data analysis and investigations show an unprecedented scale of attacks: nearly 300 attacks on and disruptions to maternity care facilities, staff, and pregnant women over the last three years, including at least 119 bombardments of hospitals and delivery wards.
“These incidents do not represent standard wartime hazards. They constitute a pattern of reproductive violence.”
The majority of these incidents have happened in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of expectant mothers are stranded.
Deaths have occurred, denied medical attention, or made to have their babies in deplorable situations. The data also indicates that at least 68 midwives, obstetricians, and gynaecologists have been slain, 15 abducted, and 101 arrested—sometimes while assisting births.
The Global Crisis in Maternal Health
These figures likely represent a substantial underreporting, as they are limited to incidents reported in news outlets. In many areas of fighting, reporting is limited.
Last year, analysis showed that half of all women who perished while pregnant or giving birth resided in a war zone. This underscores a horrifying trend.
Apart from fatalities, these attacks are wrecking maternal and neonatal care facilities, jeopardizing the future to demographic stability.
The Situation in Gaza
In Gaza, the ruinous consequences on reproductive health rights has been cited by a UN commission as one reason behind declaring certain actions a genocide.
Even after ceasefires, doctors report that women and children continue to die from medical shortages, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. UN officials have relayed women giving birth in rubble because hospitals were out of reach.
“Direct shelling fired at the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” states the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has contested deliberately targeting maternity care or trying to alter birthrates.
Ukraine's Ordeal
Since early 2022, at least 80 childbirth centers have been attacked and rendered unusable in Ukraine. Reports from frontline hospitals describe births taking place in basements and extreme psychological pressure leading to problems during delivery.
“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.
“In fact, every facility can be under attack now,” comments a medical director in Sumy. “Even if air defence intercepts a drone, the falling debris can strike a hospital.”
A Culture of Impunity
For the over half a billion females living near active conflicts, there are scarce guarantees and rare trials for atrocities for those targeting maternity care.
This void of justice has led to a “culture of impunity,” argues a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, are potentially acts of genocide by hindering reproduction.”
Other Conflict Zones
In El Fasher, the area lacked access to 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 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, hospitals have come under fire 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 collapses medical infrastructure. Rights groups note that fear is now driving women away from facilities once considered safe, pushing them toward risky home births lacking professional help.
“The deliberate attack on maternity wards indicates a larger and alarming strategy: the use of violence against hospitals as a tool for terror and to destroy community bonds,” says 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.”
