Dozens of women had taken refuge in a childbirth facility in El Fasher, Sudan, when the massacre started. Among them were new mothers, while others were experiencing childbirth.
Present at the hospital after dark, a 28-year-old lab technician, a technician named Abdo-Rabo Ahmed, became one of the few known survivors. “There were cries of women and children,” he explains. “A massacre was taking place inside the hospital. We who were able to escape, did so.”
This appalling incident stands as one of the most shocking examples in the ongoing war tearing the African nation apart. Combatants forced their way into the building, allegedly slaughtering more than 460 innocent people inside.
Rights organizations have described it as “a crime beyond words,” and a stark illustration of the deteriorating protection for civilians trapped in war-torn areas in several nations at war.
An Unprecedented Assault Against Maternal Care
Despite every significant nation have agreed to the international laws of war, which require them to safeguard civilians, the past year has seen a record number of violence targeting health services. Expectant mothers are particularly at risk due to their need for locally available medical care.
Research and compiled data reveal an alarming level of violence: nearly 300 violent acts against 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 form a pattern of reproductive violence.”
The majority of these attacks have taken place in regions embroiled in intense conflict, where countless of expectant mothers are stranded.
Deaths have occurred, blocked from reaching help, or forced to give birth in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The data also indicates that at least 68 maternal health workers have been killed, 15 taken hostage, and 101 detained—sometimes in the act of delivering babies.
A Worldwide Emergency for Mothers and Newborns
Statistics are thought to be a substantial underreporting, as they only include incidents covered by the media. In many conflict zones, 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 devastating pattern.
Apart from fatalities, these attacks are wrecking hospitals and wards, creating a grave danger to community survival.
Conditions within 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 are still perishing from inadequate care, owing to critical shortages of medicine and equipment. Accounts describe women having children by the roadside because hospitals were out of reach.
“We’ve had rockets hitting the wards, operating rooms, and maternity wards,” says the head of a major hospital’s gynecology department. A military spokesperson has rejected deliberately targeting maternity care or trying to alter birthrates.
The Crisis in Ukraine
Since early 2022, at least 80 maternity and neonatal facilities have been struck and ruined in Ukraine. Journalism from conflict zones describe births forced underground and extreme psychological pressure leading to problems during delivery.
“We are being singled out,” says the head of obstetrics at a repeatedly damaged hospital in Kherson. Officials from Russia have rejected deliberately targeting civilians.
“In fact, every facility is now a potential target,” notes a medical director in Sumy. “When defensive systems shoot down an aircraft, the falling debris may hit a hospital.”
A Culture of Impunity
For the over half a billion females living near active conflicts, there are scarce guarantees and a stark lack of legal accountability for those attacking childbirth services.
This absence of consequences has fostered a “environment where anything goes,” explains a human rights lawyer. “Attacks on reproductive healthcare, like coerced birth or involuntary sterilization, are potentially acts of genocide by preventing births.”
Other Conflict Zones
In El Fasher, the area was isolated from 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 limited by a communication blackout from rebel-held areas. Nevertheless, shelling in Goma hit a neonatal ward, resulting in tragic loss of life.
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
The majority of childbirth fatalities 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 without skilled assistance.
“The deliberate attack on maternity wards speaks to a broader and more sinister pattern: the use of violence against hospitals 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 may forfeit their immunity if used for acts deemed ‘harmful to the enemy’, which has often been cited as an excuse.”
